Raleigh Hotel (Washington D.C.)

Raleigh Hotel was an historic high-rise office and then hotel building located in Washington, D.C., United States, on 12th Street, N.W., and Pennsylvania Avenue, in the downtown neighborhood.

The Raleigh Hotel
Location within Central Washington, D.C.
General information
TypeOffice
LocationWashington, D.C., United States
Coordinates38.895304°N 77.027684°W / 38.895304; -77.027684
Completed1893
Demolished1964
Height
Roof160 feet (49 m)
Design and construction
ArchitectLeon E. Dessez;
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh

History

The site, on the northeast corner of 12th Street N.W., and Pennsylvania Avenue, was originally occupied by the Fountain Inn, erected in 1815[1] after the burning of Washington. This structure was razed and in 1847 the four-story Fuller Hotel opened.[1] Renamed the Kirkwood House, it was the residence of Vice President Andrew Johnson; he took the oath of office of the President of the United States there in April 1865 after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.[1]

Kirkwood House was razed in 1875 and replaced with the Shepherd Centennial Building, a seven-story office building in the Second Empire style (it opened in 1876).[1] The upper floors were rented by the Pension Office from 1876 to 1885, as they apparently had to use multiple private office buildings until their new building, the Pension Bureau building was ready. The ground floor on the Pennsylvania Avenue. side was rented by the Palais Royal department store from 1877 to 1893.

The Shepherd Centennial Building was converted into a hotel in 1893 by architect Leon E. Dessez and renamed the Raleigh Hotel.[2] The Raleigh Hotel was razed in 1911 and rebuilt by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh as a 13-story Beaux Arts hotel with a rusticated brick, white limestone, and terra cotta exterior.[2] Congress changed the height limit for buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 130 feet (40 m) to 160 feet (49 m) in 1910 in order to accommodate the Raleigh Hotel.[2] In 1936, there was a major interior renovation. Curt Schliffeler managed the hotel from 1936 to 1954. In 1964, the Raleigh was demolished.[3]

The site is now known as 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue.

See also

References
  1. Goode, James W. Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2003, p. 388.
  2. Goode, Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings, 2003, p. 218.
  3. John DeFerrari (2011). Lost Washington. The History Press. pp. 35–39. ISBN 978-1-60949-365-3. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
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