Mayflower Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Renaissance
Mayflower Hotel, known locally as simply The Mayflower, is a historic hotel
in downtown Washington, DC located on Connecticut Avenue
NW, two blocks north of Farragut Square
(one block north of the Farragut North
Metro
station). It is the largest luxury hotel in the U.S. capital and the longest continuously operating hotel in the Washington D.C. area, and a rival of the nearby Willard InterContinental
and Hay-Adams Hotel
s. The Mayflower is known as Washington, D.C.’s “Second Best Address” (second to the White House
at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.), a reference attributed to President Harry Truman during his stay at the hotel during White House renovations.
. An extensive renovation completed in 1988 uncovered decorative effects, including a skylight, which had been covered up due to blackout regulations during World War II
.
Shortly after opening, the Mayflower hosted a ball for the presidential inauguration of Calvin Coolidge
. Although Coolidge himself never arrived, the hotel has sponsored a ball every Inauguration Day since. Franklin D. Roosevelt worked on his famous "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" inaugural address while a guest. His successor Harry S. Truman
resided there for the first 90 days of his presidential term while the White House
was undergoing renovations, and declared his intention to run for the presidency in 1948 at a dinner there. The Mayflower's lounge, Town & Country, has long been a social center for Washington's elite. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
was said to lunch there daily with Clyde Tolson
for over twenty years. In 1975, the Mayflower was the site of former Peace Corps
and Office of Economic Opportunity
director Sargent Shriver
's formal announcement that he would run for President of the United States
.
The hotel came into spotlight several times in relation to political-sex scandals. President Kennedy's supposed mistress, Judith Campbell Exner was established in the hotel and supposedly sneaked into the White House
when his wife was away. Monica Lewinsky
was staying there when alleged her affair
with Bill Clinton
was in the news. The Mayflower was also the location where Lewinsky had been photographed with President Clinton at a campaign event not long before the 1996 election; this photograph would become an iconic component of the media coverage of the scandal.
On March 10, 2008, The New York Times
reported that New York
Governor Eliot Spitzer
had on the evening of February 13 patronized a high class prostitution
service called Emperors Club VIP
and met for over two hours with a $1,000-an-hour call girl
in room 871 of the Mayflower Hotel, where Spitzer registered under the pseudonym George Fox, but with his own Fifth Avenue Manhattan
address. The resulting scandal
caused him to announce his resignation on March 12, 2008.
The Mayflower appeared in the news once again as the location of a meeting at which Hillary Clinton introduced Barack Obama
to about 300 of her leading contributors on June 26, 2008.
Renaissance Hotels
Renaissance Hotels is a worldwide brand of hotels and resorts. The brand is owned by Marriott International and many Renaissance Hotels are managed by Marriott; however, some are operated under a franchise license. Renaissance Hotels, Resorts and Suites cater to an upmarket segment of the traveling...
Mayflower Hotel, known locally as simply The Mayflower, is a historic hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
in downtown Washington, DC located on Connecticut Avenue
Connecticut Avenue (Washington, D.C.)
Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue was one of the original streets in Pierre Charles...
NW, two blocks north of Farragut Square
Farragut Square
Farragut Square is a city square in Washington, D.C.'s Ward 2. It is bordered by K Street NW on the north, I Street NW to the south, and on the east and west by segments of 17th Street NW, and it interrupts Connecticut Avenue NW...
(one block north of the Farragut North
Farragut North (Washington Metro)
Farragut North is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C., on the Red Line.Farragut North serves downtown Washington and is located just north of Farragut Square. It lies at the heart of the business district on Connecticut Avenue, with two entrances at L Street and one at K Street...
Metro
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...
station). It is the largest luxury hotel in the U.S. capital and the longest continuously operating hotel in the Washington D.C. area, and a rival of the nearby Willard InterContinental
Willard InterContinental Washington
The Willard InterContinental Washington is an historic luxury Beaux-Arts hotel located at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Among its facilities are numerous luxurious guest rooms, several restaurants, the famed Round Robin Bar, the Peacock Alley series of luxury shops, and voluminous...
and Hay-Adams Hotel
Hay-Adams Hotel
The Hay–Adams Hotel is a luxury hotel located at 800 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C. Lafayette Square and St. John's Episcopal Church, also known as the Church of the Presidents, are located across the street...
s. The Mayflower is known as Washington, D.C.’s “Second Best Address” (second to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.), a reference attributed to President Harry Truman during his stay at the hotel during White House renovations.
History
The Mayflower was built by Allen E. Walker, the land developer behind Brookland and other residential neighborhoods of Washington. Nicknamed the "Grande Dame of Washington" at its opening in 1925, the hotel was said to contain more gold trim than any other building except the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. An extensive renovation completed in 1988 uncovered decorative effects, including a skylight, which had been covered up due to blackout regulations during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Shortly after opening, the Mayflower hosted a ball for the presidential inauguration of Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
. Although Coolidge himself never arrived, the hotel has sponsored a ball every Inauguration Day since. Franklin D. Roosevelt worked on his famous "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" inaugural address while a guest. His successor Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
resided there for the first 90 days of his presidential term while the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
was undergoing renovations, and declared his intention to run for the presidency in 1948 at a dinner there. The Mayflower's lounge, Town & Country, has long been a social center for Washington's elite. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
was said to lunch there daily with Clyde Tolson
Clyde Tolson
Clyde Anderson Tolson was Associate Director of the FBI, primarily responsible for personnel and discipline. He is best known as the protégé of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.-Early career:...
for over twenty years. In 1975, the Mayflower was the site of former Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
and Office of Economic Opportunity
Office of Economic Opportunity
The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda.- History :...
director Sargent Shriver
Sargent Shriver
Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., known as Sargent Shriver, R. Sargent Shriver, or, from childhood, Sarge, was an American statesman and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family, serving in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations...
's formal announcement that he would run for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
The hotel came into spotlight several times in relation to political-sex scandals. President Kennedy's supposed mistress, Judith Campbell Exner was established in the hotel and supposedly sneaked into the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
when his wife was away. Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
was staying there when alleged her affair
Lewinsky scandal
The Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
with Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
was in the news. The Mayflower was also the location where Lewinsky had been photographed with President Clinton at a campaign event not long before the 1996 election; this photograph would become an iconic component of the media coverage of the scandal.
On March 10, 2008, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Governor Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
had on the evening of February 13 patronized a high class prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
service called Emperors Club VIP
Emperors Club VIP
Emperors Club VIP was an international escort agency based in New York City, founded in 2004 by Mark Brener and Cecil Suwal and operated from the bank accounts of QAT Consulting Group, Inc., and QAT International, Inc...
and met for over two hours with a $1,000-an-hour call girl
Call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who is not visible to the general public; nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency...
in room 871 of the Mayflower Hotel, where Spitzer registered under the pseudonym George Fox, but with his own Fifth Avenue Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
address. The resulting scandal
Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
The Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal began on March 10, 2008, when The New York Times reported that Democratic New York Governor Eliot Spitzer had patronized a prostitution service called Emperors Club VIP...
caused him to announce his resignation on March 12, 2008.
The Mayflower appeared in the news once again as the location of a meeting at which Hillary Clinton introduced Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
to about 300 of her leading contributors on June 26, 2008.
External links
- Renaissance Mayflower Hotel web site
- National Trust for Historic PreservationNational Trust for Historic PreservationThe National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...
: Renaissance Mayflower Hotel - National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
travel itinerary: Mayflower Hotel