Mayflower Hotel

The Mayflower Hotel<ref name=newname2015>Template:Cite news</ref> is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., located on Connecticut Avenue NW. It is two blocks north of Farragut Square and one block north of the Farragut North Metro station. The hotel is managed by Autograph Collection Hotels, a division of Marriott International.

The Mayflower is the largest luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., the longest continuously operating hotel in the Washington metropolitan area, and a rival of the nearby Willard InterContinental Washington and Hay–Adams Hotels.

The Mayflower has been called the "Grande Dame of Washington"Template:Sfn and the "Hotel of Presidents",<ref name=nrhp3 /> President Harry S. Truman, a frequent guest of the hotel, called the Mayflower Hotel the city's "Second Best Address" after the White House.Template:Sfn It was also a charter member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It ranked a four-star hotel.<ref>The Mayflower Hotel, Autograph Collection, Washington</ref>

History

Construction, sale, and renaming

Front entrance to Mayflower Hotel

The site on which the Mayflower Hotel sits was, after the organization of the District of Columbia in 1792, initially owned by the federal government, which finally sold the property to Nathaniel Carusi for $5,089. Carusi, in turn, sold the site to the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in 1867 for $50,000.<ref name=hotelthisweek>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn The order built the Convent of the Visitation on the site, a structure that occupied the land until the construction of the Mayflower Hotel itself.<ref name=grandeur>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Mayflower Hotel was built by Allan E. Walker, the land developer behind Brookland and other residential neighborhoods of Washington.Template:Sfn Initially called the Hotel Walker, it was to have 11 stories, 1,100 rooms, and cost $6.2 million ($Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year dollars).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On May 27, 1922, the Walker Hotel Company was organized, with Allan Walker as president. The corporation issued 80,000 shares of preferred stock worth $2 million and 80,000 shares of common stock, and purchased a site on the north half of the block on DeSales Street between 17th Street and Connecticut Avenue. Plans for the hotel, whose cost was now pegged at $6.75 million ($Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year dollars), now included an 11-story, 1,100-room hotel facing Connecticut Avenue, whose first two floors would be common rooms, and an eight-story residential hotel facing 17th Street. Robert F. Beresford of Washington, D.C., and the New York City architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore were appointed the architects, and Beresford said the structure would be built of concrete and brick around a steel frame. Indiana limestone would be used for the facade on the first three floors, with rusticated brick and terra cotta trim on all upper floors.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By June 6, however, the cost of the hotel had risen to $8 million ($Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year dollars),<ref name=8mill />Template:Sfn largely due to a sizeable expansion in the size of the ballrooms (the largest of which could now seat 1,600 people),<ref name=sold /> meeting rooms, and other public spaces on the first two floors and first basement level.<ref name=8mill>Template:Cite news</ref>

Ground for the new hotel was broken in July 1922. Structural engineer F. E. Gillen designed the foundation, and oversaw its construction.<ref name=grandeur /> As excavation began, workers quickly uncovered the stumps of massive cypress trees, some of the trunks nearly Template:Convert in diameter. Geologists estimated the stumps at 100,000 years old.Template:Sfn As workers dug deeper, they discovered that an underground branch of Rock Creek ran below the site.Template:Sfn<ref name=grandeur /> This forced the foundation to be dug to bedrock, some Template:Convert below ground.<ref name=hotelthisweek /><ref name=grandeur /> The facade along Connecticut Avenue was Template:Convert in length, along DeSales Street Template:Convert in length, and along 17th Street Template:Convert in length. The main promenade running through the center of the hotel was Template:Convert wide and Template:Convert long,<ref name=hotelthisweek /> while the lobby was Template:Convert wide and Template:Convert long.<ref name=sold>Template:Cite news</ref> Wainscoting and floors in the public rooms of the hotel were of Botticino marble and featured walnut moldings. A glass dome covered the Palm Court, which as decorated on the interior with ornamental ironwork in the Italianate style.<ref name=sold />

Excavation of the foundation was completed in late November 1922, several weeks ahead of schedule. Steel for the frame began arriving the week of January 21, 1923, and erection of the building's frame was expected to take 10 weeks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> More than 500 men worked on erecting the frame, while 2,000 men erected the facade and interior walls, and worked laying electrical, water, sewer, and gas lines. Longacre Engineering Company of New York was the general contractor.<ref name=record>Template:Cite news</ref> Construction costs continued to rise, however. Although scheduled to open January 1, 1924,<ref name=record /> the hotel remained unfinished. The Allan E. Walker Investment Company, the largest shareholder in the Hotel Walker Company began running short of funds, slowing construction. Nearing bankruptcy, the Walker Investment sold its interest in the Hotel Walker to C.C. Mitchell & Company, builder of large apartment complexes and hotels in Boston and Detroit. The reported price of the sale was $5.7 million for the $8.5 million hotel.<ref name=sold /> But in fact, costs had risen much higher, and the hotel's final cost was closer to $11 million ($Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year dollars). The new owners changed the name to the Mayflower Hotel in honor of the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower and the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.Template:Sfn

About the hotel

The 17th Street NW entrance to the hotel

The Mayflower Hotel opened on February 18, 1925.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The hotel sat on Template:Convert of land, and had roughly Template:Convert of interior space.<ref name=grandeur /> Several heating oil furnaces and one of the world's largest air conditioning units kept the hotel at an even Template:Convert year round.Template:Efn<ref name=grandeur /> The hotel's promenade, as completed, was Template:Convert wide and Template:Convert long.<ref name=sold />Template:Efn<ref name=grandeur />Template:Sfn

The hotel had 440 guest rooms,<ref name=nrhp3>Template:Cite web</ref> each with its own shower bath. Guest suites had a sitting room, dining room, bath, and up to seven bedrooms.<ref name=grandeur /> The hotel's 500 residential guest apartments each had its own kitchenette, dining room, and drawing room with fireplace.<ref name=grandeur /><ref name=inspection /> Some had as many as 11 rooms, and up to five baths.<ref name=inspection />

The cruciform lobby had a mezzanine on the north, west, and south sides, and marble-clad piers divided the north and south walls into three bays. A small cocktail lounge was located along the north wall, while the reception desk occupied the south wall.<ref name=nrhp8>Template:Cite web</ref> The lobby received light from a coffered skylight. Four great bronze torchères, hand-wrought and trimmed with gold, dominated the lobby (and were claimed by the hotel to be "priceless").Template:Sfn The main lobby entrance on Connecticut Avenue had a stairway that led down to the first below-ground level, where public restrooms, the barber shop, and a shoeshine stand (made of marble) were located. A secondary corridor and steps behind the elevators led to the Presidential Room; another secondary corridor to the east of the front desk led to the Mayflower Coffee Shop. The four elevators to the east of the lobby, joining it to the Promenade, had bronze doors with images of the Mayflower vessel on them.<ref name=nrhp8 />

The Mayflower featured three restaurants. The Template:Convert Palm Court featured a glass dome supported by iron latticework, numerous palm trees, and a marble fountain and pool with water lilies growing in it.Template:Sfn The Template:Convert Presidential RestaurantTemplate:Sfn was decorated with the seals of the Thirteen Colonies.<ref name=grandeur /> Both were located on the main floor. The Garden Terrace was located on the first below-ground floor.Template:Sfn The Italianate style<ref name=grandeur /> room featured a coffered ceiling done in copper, a marble fountain, plaster walls in warm pastel tints, alcoves designed to look like arbors, and murals of early Washington, D.C., and nearby Mount Vernon.Template:Sfn Two well-known hoteliers managed the restaurants: Jules Venice, the maitre d'hotel, and Sabatini, former chef at Delmonico's.<ref name=grandeur />

The hotel's Grand Ballroom featured a stage with proscenium,<ref name=grandeur /> beneath which was a hidden thrust stage that could be projected out into the ballroom.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Grand Ballroom's main entrance was on 17th Street, where a covered, semi-circular carriageway allowed up to three carriages at a time to unload patrons. The hotel also had several small, private ballrooms for more intimate events.<ref name=grandeur /> Next to the ballroom on the 17th Street side was the Chinese Room—a sumptuous meeting and banqueting room inspired by The Peacock Room by James McNeill Whistler.Template:SfnTemplate:EfnTemplate:Sfn

The Mayflower Hotel's interior design was created by E. S. Bullock of Albert Pick & Co.<ref name=grandeur /> The furnishings, which cost $1.25 million ($Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year dollars), were antique and reproduction pieces in the Sheraton, Louis Quinze, and early Renaissance styles.<ref name=inspection>Template:Cite news</ref> "Walls, floors, stairs, pilasters and wainscoting in the lobby and the major function rooms [were] clad in a wide array of American and imported marbles, and ceilings and walls throughout the first floor and mezzanine [were] ornamented by finely cast, low-relief plaster decorations, often further embellished with gold leaf."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The use of gold gilt to trim decoration was extensive; newspapers said the hotel contained more gold trim than any other building except the Library of Congress.Template:Sfn Original artworks, some by quite famous artists, adorned the public spaces. These included four larger-than-life-sized portraits of the first four presidents by painter and muralist Louis Grell of Chicago.Template:Sfn Three marble statuary groups were also displayed in the lobby and public areas: La Sirene by Denys Puech; Flora by William Couper; and The Lost Pleiad (also known as Merope Married a Mortal) by Randolph Rogers. Two smaller pieces by Rogers, Nydia, the Blind Girl of Pompeii and Boy and Dog, were also on display.<ref name=grandeur />

The Mayflower Hotel offered a wide range of amenities to its guests, including air conditioning in all public rooms (the first time a hotel had used air conditioning on such a large scale) and ice water and fans in all guest rooms. Services included daily maid service, a laundry, a barber shop, a beauty salon, a garage for automobiles, a telephone switchboard, and a small hospital staffed by a doctor.<ref name=nrhp3 />

Construction of the Annex

The Mayflower Hotel after completion

With the Mayflower Hotel finished but not yet furnished in September 1924,<ref name=sold /> plans were made to enlarge the structure even before it opened. The new owners perceived high demand for guest room suites, and quickly designed a $1 million ($Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year dollars) addition.Template:Sfn<ref name=millann>Template:Cite news</ref> Construction began in October 1925, and within six weeks the Template:Convert deep foundation had been dug.<ref name=deluxeaddition /> The addition opened on May 31, 1925.<ref name=millann /><ref name=deluxeaddition>Template:Cite news</ref>

The most prominent features of the Annex were the Presidential Suite and the Vice Presidential Suite. The Presidential Suite occupied the 10th floor, and was decorated in green and gold in the Italianate style. The Vice Presidential Suite occupied the ninth floor, and was decorated in dull and bright yellow in the Louis XVI style.<ref name=deluxeaddition /> Each suite had 13 rooms,<ref name=millann /><ref name=deluxeaddition /> which included a foyer, drawing room, library, secretary's room, dining room, and five bedrooms—each with its own bath and kitchenette.<ref name=deluxeaddition /> Each suite also had a maid's room, with an attached bath.<ref name=nrhp13>Template:Cite web</ref> The furnishings of both suites were copies of museum pieces. The Presidential Suite featured a marquetry table with ormolu fittings; a Louis XVI cabinet with painted panels; Oriental rugs; bronze and marble urns in the Neoclassical style; drapes of silk damask; and underdrapes of silk taffeta. The suite's dining room featured Queen Anne style furniture. The Vice Presidential Suite featured a dining room with furniture in the Sheraton and Hepplewhite styles. Dining room furniture in both suites was manufactured from satin-walnut, and featured painted decorations and marquetry. The bedrooms in both suites featured Louis XVI-, Adam-, and Federal-style furniture made of satinwood, walnut, and mahogany. Each piece was painted, lacquered, or marquetried. Dust-covers for the beds were also of taffeta. Sofas and chairs in each suite were upholstered in imported brocades, while the walls were covered in hand-made tapestries. Each suite had numerous shaded lamps, porcelain and crystal art objects, and gilt mirrors. Original oil and watercolor paintings as well as etchings and engravings—many of them by famous artists—decorated the suites. Each suite's bathroom was completely tiled in white, with silver-plated fixtures for the sink and shower, an engraved glass shower door, and a Swiss shower.<ref name=deluxeaddition />Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The kitchens, too, were tiled in white, and contained an electric stove and oven, a Frigidaire refrigerator, silver tableware, complete porcelain table setting, and fine table linens.<ref name=deluxeaddition />

The second through eighth floors of the Annex contained guest suites. Each suite had five bedrooms, and each bedroom had its own bath. The first floor of the Annex was occupied by the Mayflower Coffee Shop, a vastly expanded version of the highly popular but extremely small café located on the ground floor of the existing hotel.<ref name=deluxeaddition /> The basement of the Annex occupied by a huge laundry, which served the hotel and annex.<ref name=millann /><ref name=deluxeaddition />

Bankruptcy of the 1930s

On March 31, 1928, the Mayflower Hotel's bonds were refinanced by the American Bond & Mortgage Co. (the successor to C.C. Mitchell & Co.).<ref name=finance>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Great Depression had a significant impact on the Mayflower Hotel. It lost money (as much as $760,000 over two years), and in 1929 its affairs were placed in the hands of a special committee established by American Bond & Mortgage. The hotel continued to lose money, and on May 22, 1931, holders of the hotel's original bonds secured a ruling that the hotel was bankrupt.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> American Bond was declared bankrupt the same day.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The receivers later alleged that the hotel had lost more than $2 million since it opened, and that American Bond had issued a large amount of bonds with the hotel as security (worsening the hotel's financial status).<ref name=finance /> American Bond won dismissal of the bankruptcy ruling on June 26,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A second bankruptcy was declared by the court on July 28, 1931.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fraud charges were later levied against officials of American Bond & Mortgage.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> American Bond finally admitted the hotel was bankrupt in October 1931.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref>

Holders of the second bonds (issued with the hotel as security), however, feared that they would receive nothing if the Mayflower were foreclosed. They petitioned a court to remove the receivers and to appoint new trustees who would sell the hotel. The court agreed, and the sale began to move forward in 1933.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Concerned about the sale, Senators Hamilton Fish Kean and Robert Rice Reynolds began an investigation into the bankruptcy and sale. In 1933, Kean and Reynolds won congressional approval in June 1934 for the Corporate Bankruptcy Act, which allowed the Mayflower Hotel itself to declare bankruptcy and refinance itself.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> With the receivers having made the hotel profitable once more,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the hotel reorganized its finances in a court-approval bankruptcy proceeding on December 20, 1934.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early in World War II, the skylight in the Palm Court was covered over with a mural painting. The skylight was later flocked with pieces of velvet.<ref name=conroy />

Hilton

In December 1946, Hilton Hotels Corporation purchased the Mayflower Hotel for $2.6 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some of the Mayflower's stockholders challenged the sale, arguing the price was too low. A court dismissed the suit in May 1947.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Over the next decade, Hilton Hotels spent about $1 million refurbishing the guest rooms and public spaces.<ref name=sonnabend>Template:Cite news</ref> Hilton Hotels purchased the Statler Hotels chain in 1954, and as a result owned multiple large hotels in many major cities, as in Washington, where they now owned the Mayflower and the Statler Hotel. Soon after, the federal government filed an antitrust action against Hilton. To resolve the suit, Hilton agreed to sell the Mayflower Hotel, the Roosevelt Hotel in New York and the Hotel Jefferson in St. Louis.<ref name=offered>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hotel Corporation of America

Hilton Hotels sold the Mayflower to the Hotel Corporation of America (HCA) on April 1, 1956, for $12.8 million.<ref name=sonnabend /> HCA renovated the Mayflower's old Garden Terrace, renaming it the Rib Room.<ref name=herron>Template:Cite news</ref> The hotel's occupancy rates were lower than average, however. In 1963, for example, the Mayflower lost $450,000.<ref name=teardown>Template:Cite news</ref> HCA privately expressed interest in selling the property.

May-Wash Associates

On October 28, 1965, the locally owned May-Wash Associates offered to buy the Mayflower for $14 million.<ref name=offered /> May-Wash Associates consisted of William Cohen, a local real estate developer and banker who owned 50 percent of the company; Kingdon Gould Jr. and his son, Kingdon Gould III, local real estate developers who owned 35 percent; Ulysses "Blackie" Augur, a local restaurateur who owned 10 percent; and Dominic F. Antonelli, owner of a string of parking lots in the area who owned 1 percent.<ref name=plushier>Template:Cite news</ref> HCA's board of directors approved the deal on November 11, 1965. HCA continued to manage the hotel for the new owners.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Mayflower Hotel underwent a $2.5 million refurbishment of its common rooms in 1966 and 1967.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The renovation got rid of the Presidential Restaurant and renamed it Le Chatelaine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> HCA was renamed Sonesta Hotels in 1970.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

May-Wash Associates considered closing the Mayflower Hotel in 1971 after it lost $485,000 the previous year. Lead May-Wash investor William Cohen said that if Congress weakened the restrictions of the Height of Buildings Act of 1910, the company would tear down the Mayflower and erect a 20-story office and retail skyscraper with Template:Convert of office space and Template:Convert of retail space. If the Height Act remained in force, Cohen said the hotel's first two floors would be transformed into a shopping mall accommodating 40 to 50 small businesses.<ref name=teardown /> But the plan was abandoned later that fall when the Mayflower announced a five-year, $2.5 million renovation that would refurbish the retail stores on the Connecticut Avenue side of the structure. Then on November 1, 1971, May-Wash hired Western International Hotels to manage the property.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Western International said it would invest $500,000 immediately to upgrade guest rooms (which included color television sets for the first time). Western International said the previously announced $2.5 million refurbishment would go to additional guest room renovations, and improvements to dining spaces, banqueting facilities, and ballrooms.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Rib Room lost its name (which had been trademarked by HCA, the previous manager), the facade was cleaned, and the air conditioning repaired and upgraded.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Beginning in April 1973, the Mayflower Hotel served as the temporary Embassy of China in Washington, D.C., for a time while their new embassy building at 2300 Connecticut Avenue NW was being renovated following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

With the Mayflower making a profit, May-Wash Associates undertook at $2.5 million general refurbishment of the 800 guest rooms about 1977. The hotel then announced a $25 million overhaul and expansion in January 1979. The main western wing of the hotel, facing Connecticut Avenue, was to have the public rooms on the lower two levels turned into retail space, while the 448 guest rooms above would be gutted and transformed into office space. The eastern wing, in the rear, would remain a hotel. May-Wash hired architect Vlastimil Koubek to design two new floors to add to the top of the eastern wing, bringing it to the same height as the western wing. The resulting hotel would have 407 guest rooms, larger than those before, a mix of newly built rooms and remodeled existing rooms. The hotel also planned to add a health club (with racquetball court, sauna, and swimming pool) and café to the 17th Street side of the hotel. Meeting and private dining room space would be added to the structure; all plumbing and mechanical systems would be upgraded; and central air conditioning would replace the window units now in operation.<ref name=plushier /> The hotel sought to permanently narrow De Sales Street NW as part of its renovations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Western International Hotels, which managed the property, was renamed Westin Hotels & Resorts in January 1981. In October 1981, May-Wash Associates announced that Stouffer Corporation, a division of Nestlé, was taking a minority interest in the Mayflower Hotel, and would assume management of the property on December 1, 1981, under a 20-year agreement. Stouffer said the hotel would be its American "flagship", and the hotel was renamed the Stouffer Mayflower Hotel.<ref name=stouffermanager>Template:Cite news</ref>

While renovation of the eastern tower proceeded, plans for the western tower drastically changed. The Mayflower abandoned its plan to convert the tower into office space, and instead upgraded the hotel rooms in the eastern tower. In some cases, rooms were merged to create luxury suites. The change in renovation plans left the Mayflower with just 727 rooms, but added Template:Convert of meeting room space and a new restaurant.<ref name=stouffermanager /> The hotel still attempted to narrow DeSales Street NW, proposing to use the extra space to build an enclosed outdoor café (something city laws did not permit).Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Even as the first renovations were ending, the Mayflower Hotel embarked on another major set of refurbishments and upgrades. This project, which began in 1981 and lasted three years, cost $65 million. The hotel remained open as the project moved forward in phases.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1981, two floors were finally added to the eastern wing of the structure. The meeting rooms on the hotel's second floor and the Board Room were refurbished, and offices on the mezzanine were removed and the space restored to public use. The following year, 200 suites received major makeovers, including the installation of baths clad in Italian marble. The Presidential Restaurant was divided into two new banqueting halls, the East Room and the State Room, and the Grand Ballroom and the Chinese Room were renovated. The restoration of the lobby and upgrading of the hotel's restaurants occurred in 1983. Artisans and technicians helped to restore the bas-relief plaster moldings and brass fixtures, clean and restore the hotel's many crystal chandeliers, and apply new gold leaf to areas where the gilt had been damaged or removed. The renovations left the hotel with 721 guest rooms (about half rebuilt and restored) and two restaurants.<ref name=callister>Template:Cite news</ref>

The renovation uncovered many historic decorative elements which had been covered up over time. The skylight in the Presidential Room (formerly the Palm Court) was uncovered.<ref name=callister /> When renovation of the former Palm Court began, two previously unknown murals by Edward Laning were discovered.<ref name=conroy>Template:Cite news</ref> The murals were dated by art experts to 1957,<ref name=conroy /> when the Palm Court was radically reconfigured into the Le Chatelaine restaurant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The murals, Template:Convert long and Template:Convert high, depicted Italian formal gardens. They were hidden behind a false wall when the restaurant was turned into meeting room space in early 1978.<ref name=conroy /> Discovered in storage were 24 fire-gilded 19th century service platters purchased from the estate of heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean in 1947.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Stouffer, New World and Marriott Hotels

After managing the hotel for ten years, Stouffer bought it outright from May-Wash in 1991 for just over $100 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 1993, Stouffer Hotels was sold by Nestlé to New World Development Company of Hong Kong. Nestlé also gave New World the right to use the Stouffer brand name for 3 years, from 1993 to May 1996. New World already owned the Renaissance Hotels chain, and merged the Stouffer-branded Hotels into it. The Mayflower was renamed the Stouffer Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In early 1996, the Stouffer branding was retired, and the hotel became the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.<ref>Template:Cite web </ref> Marriott International bought Renaissance Hotels from New World in February 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Investment groups

Marriott sold The Mayflower to Walton Street Capital in 2005, in a package with seven other Marriott hotels, for a total of $578 million.<ref>Template:Cite web </ref> Walton Street resold the Mayflower to Rockwood Capital in 2007<ref>Template:Cite web </ref> for $260 million, financed with a $200 million securitized loan.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">Template:Cite news</ref>

The hotel, appraised at $285 million in 2008, fell in value to $160 million by 2010. With Rockwood's loan over-leveraged, they refinanced the hotel in 2015, with a $160 million loan from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc. and other lenders. Also in 2015, Rockwood sold off 71 of the hotel's rooms to Marriott for $32 million, for use by the company's Marriott Vacation Club Destinations time-share division.<ref name="commercialobserver.com"/>

In May 2015, the hotel switched from Marriott's Renaissance Hotels brand to Marriott's Autograph Collection brand, dropping the word "Renaissance" from its name. The move was prompted by studies which showed that younger travelers were not brand-loyal and instead looked for individuality and uniqueness when shopping for a hotel stay. Marriott also learned that few travelers knew the Mayflower was a Renaissance Hotel, which made the branding superfluous.<ref name=newname2015 />

A $20 million refurbishment of all rooms and the creation of a club level was completed in August 2015. Each floor of the hotel was given a theme corresponding to a decade, with the second floor devoted to the 1920s, third floor to the 1930s, and so on to the tenth floor. Each room received updated, modern furniture, and the hallways were wallpapered in grey and white with a pattern reminiscent of the lobby mezzanine railing. Each of the hotel's presidential suites also received a complete makeover, and now have a separate office. Rooms on the seventh floor were eliminated to make space for the Marriott Vacation Club Pulse. This left the Mayflower with a total of 581 rooms (512 guest rooms, 67 suites, and two presidential suites). At the completion of the room renovation, the Mayflower announced it would begin a major refurbishment of the hotel's ballrooms and meeting space in late 2016.<ref name=cooperroomreno>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2021, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc., having already provided Rockwood financing for the 2015 refinancing, bought out Rockwood's share of the hotel, for $86 million.<ref name="commercialobserver.com"/>

Renovations

Lobby

In the hotel's early years, the lobby skylight was painted over.<ref name=nrhp8 />

The lobby originally featured a small store and cocktail bar in its northwest corner.<ref name=debut>Template:Cite news</ref> The main entrance to this space was at the corner where the two diagonal walls of the hotel met at the corner of Connecticut Avenue and DeSales Street. In March 1948, the retail area was taken over by the hotel and expanded into a much larger bar and dining space named the Town and Country Lounge.<ref name=debut /> Over the next four decades, the bar became a favorite of Washington politicians and power-brokers. The Sunday Times of London rated Town and Country as one of the "star bars" of the world (alongside the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California; the mob-constructed lobby bar of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana, Cuba; and Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France).<ref name=williamson>Template:Cite news</ref>

The lobby mezzanine was closed off to create office space in 1962.<ref name=nrhp8 /><ref name=callister /> The ceiling of the elevator foyer was lowered, which covered up a bas-relief plaster sculpture on the architrave above the east entrance to the elevator foyer and a sunburst medallion on the ceiling of the elevator foyer were both covered over (but not removed). Intricate plaster capitals on the piers in the lobby were also removed at this time. At some point, a door was cut through the curved wall opposite the elevator bank.<ref name=nrhp8 />

The offices were removed from the lobby mezzanine in the 1981–1984 renovation, and the mezzanine restored to its original function.<ref name=callister /> The door in the curved wall opposite the elevators was also sealed.<ref name=nrhp8 />

The Town and Country Lounge was slightly renovated in 2010, with hardwood floors replacing the carpet.<ref name=williamson /> The bar's future, however, was not secure. In January 2011, the hotel's lobby, restaurant, bar, and retail spaces<ref name=2011reno>Template:Cite web</ref> underwent a six-month, $5 million renovation (their first since the 1981–1984 refurbishment).<ref name=williamson /> The Town and Country Lounge ceased to exist, and the Thomas Pink luxury men's clothing store moved into the space.<ref name=2011reno /> Thomas Pink had formerly occupied the site of the old Mayflower Coffee Shop on the south side of the lobby. Offices near this space were removed to provide expansion of the space, and a new restaurant to be named EDGAR Bar + Lounge. The lobby itself underwent additional restoration, overseen by the architectural firm of Jonathan Nehmer & Associates,<ref name=2011reno /> which flipped the lobby orientation.<ref name=cooperroomreno />

Presidential Room

The Presidential Room was originally decorated in the Adams style.<ref name=nrhp9 /> The floor of the room was white Vermont marble tile. Thin diagonal lines of verd antique ran across the floor. Around the floor was an inner, narrow border of verd antique, with a Template:Convert wide border of blue-veined white Pavonazzo marble.<ref name=nrhp10 /> Seven square piers, with Doric capitals and gilt festoons, created a narrow colonnade along the north and south walls. A wainscot Template:Convert high, made of white Sylacauga marble with a verd antique baseboard, was placed on the walls and around all the piers. An acanthus crown molding topped the room, and gilt plaster moldings in the shape of finials surrounded each window and doorway. Turned wood spindles decorated the northern wall. The crests of the 13 Colonies, in gilt and polychrome, lined the walls as decorative elements. On the south side of the room, there was a "service pavilion" Template:Convert wide and one story high. A narrow set of stairs gave access to the top of the service pavilion, which was enclosed by a decorative iron railing.<ref name=nrhp9 /> The ceiling of the room was decoration with Adams style bas-relief plaster moldings. The center of the ceiling was a long rectangle stretching nearly the long length of the room, surrounded by gilt plaster wreath moldings. A gilt chandelier with silk shades hung from the center of the room. Shallow, circular domes surrounded by gilt plaster wreath moldings existed at the east and west ends of the room. In the center of each dome was a delicate grating, from which hung two more gilt chandeliers with silk shades.<ref name=nrhp10 />

At some point in time, the stairs leading to the top of the service pavilion were removed. The structure was clad in mirrors separated by narrow pilasters, and most (but not all) of the spindles removed from the north wall.<ref name=nrhp9 />

The old Presidential Room was partitioned in the 1981–1984 renovation, and two ballrooms/meeting rooms—the State Room and the East Room—were created out of the space. A removable metal partition was installed to divide the room as well as the service pavilion.<ref name=nrhp10>Template:Cite web</ref> Almost none of the other original decorations of the room have been changed since its 1925 creation, however.<ref name=nrhp9 />

Palm Court

The north wall of the Palm Court originally consisted of structural piers, leaving the room open to the Promenade. Pilasters along the south wall mimicked this look and gave the room an aesthetic symmetry. A bay in the east wall was framed by columns and an arch, and an oriel balcony on the mezzanine level projected into the room. The Palm Court had a floor of American travertine, a maple dance floor, wainscoting of gold-veined St. Genevieve marble, and intricate plaster moldings on entablature and ceiling.<ref name=nrhp9>Template:Cite web</ref>

Walls were added between the piers in 1934, and the Palm Court was internally partitioned in 1947. In 1950, arches were constructed between the piers of the north wall and the pilasters of the south wall in an attempt to connect the walls visually. In 1957, the Palm Court was radically renovated. Its Victorian ironwork was removed and a Neoclassical style decorating scheme implemented.<ref name=nrhp9 /> Two large murals by painter Edward Laning were added,<ref name=conroy /> and framed with nonstructural columns in an attempt to simulate the vista from a verandah. The room's eastern bay was sealed off, and small staging vestibules added to the south wall, leaving the room strongly asymmetrical.<ref name=nrhp9 />

During the 1981–1984 renovation, the east bay was reopened.<ref name=nrhp9 /> The old Palm Court was now confusingly renamed the Presidential Room.

The Promenade

The PromenadeTemplate:Efn originally featured pilasters that defined six bays along both its north and south sides. The capital of each pilaster was decorated with the profile of a different mythological hero, and festooned with swag.<ref name=nrhp10 /> Each pilaster had a faux pedestal made of verd antique decorated with plaster rosettes and gilt plaster wreaths.<ref name=nrhp11>Template:Cite web</ref> The wainscoting was Template:Convert high, and of white Alabama marble. A baseboard of verd antique and a gray marble dado rail completed the wainscot, and a gilt plaster acanthus crown molding decorated the ceiling. Arches in the north wall gave access to meeting rooms. The arches leading to the Grand Ballroom, Chinese Room, and the original Presidential Room were topped with sculpted architraves of white Alabama marble, while the other arches were each topped by a gilt plaster crest. Beveled mirrors stood between the pilasters.<ref name=nrhp10 /> The ceiling of the Promenade consisted of octagonal coffers alternating with small square coffers. At the center of each square coffer was a gilt plaster rosette.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The floor was of white Vermont marble and verd antique marble, with a border of verd antique.<ref name=nrhp11 /> Architect Shirley Maxwell has noted that the Mayflower's "block-long long lobby and promenade form what is probably the grandest indoor 'street' in Washington..."<ref name=nrhp13 />

At some point in time, the arches which led to the small meeting rooms along the north wall were filled in with gilt-edged mirrors.<ref name=nrhp10 />

The Grand Ballroom

The Grand Ballroom was the most opulent room in the Mayflower Hotel. As with the Presidential Room, square piers formed colonnades along the north and south walls. Ionic capitals featuring satanic faces topped each pier.<ref name=nrhp11 /> A stage with a proscenium arch was located on the west end.<ref name=grandeur /> Mirrored French Doors formed the Grand Ballroom's east wall. These could be opened to provide access to the Chinese Room beyond. A small curved balcony, reached by narrow stairs in the northeast and southeast corners of the ballroom, projected over the French doors. The wainscoting was of tan St. Genevieve marble. Six doors pierced the north wall and led to the Promenade, with the end doors reached by curving steps. The floor consisted of a wooden floor with a border of marble. Delicate, bas-relief gilt plaster decorations covered the piers, walls, and ceiling.<ref name=nrhp11 />

The Chinese Room

The Chinese Room had a square floorplan. A flight of short steps led to the entrance, which was in the curved, north wall. Large, rectangular piers framed an alcove (which ran nearly the depth of the room) on the east.<ref name=nrhp11 /> The hardwood floor featured a baseboard of verd antique, and a crown molding of gilt plaster acanthus leaves surrounds the ceiling. The ceiling of the Chinese Room consists of a dramatic elliptical dome. A gilt plaster molding of wreathes surrounds the dome, while the rest of the ceiling is covered in chinoiserie paintings of animals, people, and trees. A two-tiered crystal chandelier hung from the center of the dome.<ref name=nrhp12>Template:Cite web</ref>

At some point in time, the windows in the east wall were filled in, and mirrors inserted in the new, false casements.<ref name=nrhp12 />

The District Ballroom

The Garden Terrace (Originally Named), located on the first below-ground floor,Template:Sfn featured Italianate<ref name=grandeur /> decor, a coffered copper ceiling, a marble fountain, plaster walls in warm pastel tints, alcoves designed to look like arbors, and murals of early Washington, D.C., and nearby Mount Vernon.Template:Sfn

The Garden Terrace was radically redecorated in September 1940, and its name changed to the Sapphire Room.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Designed by Robert F. Beresford, one of the hotel's original architects, the rear of the room's stage was clad in glowing sapphire-blue glass brick. The overhead arches were clad in aluminum, most of the decoration in the room removed, and the remaining surfaces painted bright blue. Carpet with a brick-like pattern in blue covered the floor.Template:Sfn

In about 1950, the Sapphire Room was redecorated in the Colonial Revival style, a popular at the time, and renamed the Williamsburg Room.Template:Sfn It was open by at least October 1950.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The alcoves were removed and replaced with a raised terrace on the north, east, and south sides of the room. A railing with an oak handrail and turned-wood balusters enclosed the gallery, and a shallow concave stage was added to the west wall. Pilasters, paneled in warm-colored wood, were added to the walls. A wainscot and dado rail of wood covered the lower part of the walls. A highly intricate plaster architrave and broken pediment surmounted the entrances to the terrace.<ref name=nrhp12 />

The Williamsburg Room became the Colonial Room about January 1971.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Mayflower Coffee Shop

The Mayflower Coffee Shop originally occupied a small space south and slightly west of the main desk and front office on the west side of the hotel. This space was quite small, but was vastly expanded in April 1925 with the completion of the Annex. A soda fountain and candy shop occupied the old coffee shop space, while the coffee shop expanded into a much larger space south of the lobby/front desk area.<ref name=deluxeaddition /> The coffee shop, which also served small meals and box lunches, was decorated with paintings of Colonial America and was intended to look like an old-fashioned coffee house.Template:Sfn

In 1956, with the change in hotel management, the front desk was moved to the north side of the lobby (occupying space previously used for phone booths). The soda fountain and candy shop were eliminated, and the restaurant expanded to occupy the space. The restaurant was renamed the Rib Room.<ref name=herron />Template:Sfn When Western International Hotels rook over from HCA, the restaurant lost its name (which was a trademark of HCA). The restaurant was subsequently named The Carvery in July 1972.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Carvery closed in 2004.<ref name=Schwartzman>Template:Cite news</ref>

Notable events

The Mayflower Hotel hosted the Inaugural Ball of President Calvin Coolidge just two weeks after its opening. It hosted an Inaugural Ball every four years until it hosted its final ball in January 1981. It has not hosted an Inaugural Ball since.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> President-elect Herbert Hoover established his presidential planning team offices in the hotel in January 1928,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> and his Vice President, Charles Curtis, lived there in one of the hotel's residential guest rooms during his four years in office.<ref name=Schwartzman /> Senator Huey Long also lived at the Mayflower, taking eight suites in the hotel from January 25, 1932, to March 1934.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt spent March 2 and 3 in Suites 776 and 781 at the Mayflower Hotel before his inauguration on March 4.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:EfnTemplate:Sfn United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and former Governor of North Carolina Oliver Max Gardner and his wife, Fay Webb-Gardner, lived at the hotel from 1946 to 1947.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Two events of significance during World War II happened at the Mayflower. In June 1942, George John Dasch and seven other spies from Nazi Germany entered the United States after being transported to American shores via a submarine. Their goal, named Operation Pastorius, was to engage in sabotage against key infrastructure. But after encountering a United States Coast Guard patrol moments after landing, Dasch decided the plan was useless. On June 19, 1942, he checked into Room 351 at the Mayflower Hotel and promptly betrayed his comrades.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Eighteen months later, a committee of the American Legion met in Room 570 at the Mayflower Hotel from December 15 to 31, 1943, to draft legislation to assist returning military members reintegrate into society. Their proposed legislation, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944—known informally as the G.I. Bill—was put into final draft from by Harry W. Colmery on Mayflower Hotel stationery.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Twice, the Mayflower has been the site where a U.S. presidential campaign was launched, and twice it hosted events which proved to be turning points in a presidential nomination. In March 1931, Franklin D. Roosevelt was vying with Al Smith for the Democratic presidential nomination of 1932. John J. Raskob, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), opposed Roosevelt's candidacy. Knowing that Roosevelt had privately committed to repealing Prohibition but had not done so publicly (leaving him "damp"), Raskob attempted to force the DNC, then meeting at the Mayflower Hotel, to adopt a "wet" (or repeal) plank in the party platform. Instead of drawing Roosevelt out, the maneuver deeply offended Southern "dry" (anti-repeal) Democrats—who abandoned Smith and threw their support to the allegedly more moderate Roosevelt, and helped him secure the nomination.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1948, President Harry S. Truman told a cheering audience of Young Democrats of America at a dinner at the Mayflower on May 14 that he intended to seek re-election in 1948.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Former Peace Corps and Office of Economic Opportunity director Sargent Shriver announced his run for President of the United States at the Mayflower on September 20, 1975.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Shriver withdrew from the race after a very poor showing, but a more successful campaign began there in 2008. Senator Barack Obama had locked down the 2008 Democratic nomination for President on June 3, 2008. Hillary Clinton conceded the nomination to Obama on June 7, and introduced Obama to about 300 of her leading contributors at a meeting at the Mayflower on June 26, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), lunched nearly every day at the Mayflower Hotel's Rib Room with Clyde Tolson, associate director of the FBI, from 1952 until Hoover's death in 1972.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name=argetsinger>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoover had the same lunch every day: chicken soup followed by a salad of iceberg lettuce, grapefruit, and cottage cheese. Buttered white toast was served on the side. (He brought his own diet salad dressing.) Hoover was so well known at the Rib Room that he sometimes ducked out through the kitchen to avoid reporters.<ref name=Schwartzman />

The front of the Mayflower was where The Washington Post national editor Ben Bagdikian transferred copied portions of the Pentagon Papers, an internal DoD study of the history of the Vietnam War given to him by Daniel Ellsberg, to U.S. Senator Mike Gravel, for reading into the congressional record, at midnight on June 26, 1971.<ref name="McFadden 2016">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="WaPo 2016">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Democracy Now 2016">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Democracy Now 2007">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="uu2001">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="wapo090907">Template:Cite news</ref>

During the Senate Watergate hearings in June 1973, presidential aide John Dean was on the witness "hot seat" for five days. Throughout this highly charged and historic event the accuracy of Dean's testimony, and his personal veracity were called into question by the president's defenders and others. History has mostly judged Dean to have demonstrated a formidable, almost photographic memory. However, Dean's sworn testimony that he met with Nixon's personal attorney Herbert Kalmbach at the Mayflower Hotel Coffee shop, in furtherance of making illegal hush-money payments to the Watergate burglars was proven to be false. Dean's inaccurate testimony was a brief setback to his case, as the meeting between Dean and Kalmbach occurred at the Statler Hilton Hotel, not the Mayflower Hotel. As it turned out, and coincidentally, the coffee shop at the Statler Hilton hotel was named the Mayflower Coffee Shop and as of July 1972, the Mayflower Hotel did not operate a coffee shop.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At times, John Dean was adamant that the meeting took place at the Mayflower Hotel, although he placed the hotel on 16th Street (the location of the Statler Hilton) and also stated that he would continually confuse the Statler Hilton Hotel with the Mayflower Hotel despite having lived and worked in the Washington D.C.area for about ten years. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Mayflower has been in the news several times in relation to political sex scandals. Judith Exner, who claimed to be President John F. KennedyTemplate:'s mistress, said she stayed in the hotel while in D.C. to secretly meet with the president for sexual trysts.<ref name=argetsinger /> Monica Lewinsky stayed at the Mayflower Hotel when her affair with President Bill Clinton was in the news, and she was extensively interviewed by federal investigators about the scandal in the Presidential Suite.<ref name=argetsinger /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Mayflower was also the location where Lewinsky was photographed with President Clinton at a campaign event not long before the 1996 election; this photograph later became an iconic component of the media coverage of the scandal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On March 10, 2008, The New York Times reported that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer patronized a high class prostitution service called Emperors Club VIP while staying at the Mayflower on February 13.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Spitzer allegedly had sex for over two hours with a $1,000-an-hour call girl in room 871 while registered under the alias George Fox.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref>

Rating

The AAA gave the hotel four diamonds out of five in 1992. The hotel has maintained that rating every year, and received four diamonds again for 2016.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> Forbes Travel Guide (formerly known as Mobil Guide) declined to give the hotel either five or four stars in 2016, and did not put the hotel on its "recommended" list.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Mueller report
• Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

• The Mayflower official website
• The Mayflower official chain website
• Marriott Vacation Club Pulse at The Mayflower official website
• The Mayflower Hotel – Historic Hotels of America, National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Three Stories From the Mayflower Hotel in D.C. - Ghosts of DC blog