Washington Hilton celebrates 60 years!

One of the most iconic hotels in Washington is the Hilton Hotel which proudly sits above Dupont Circle on Connecticut Avenue and is affectionately but rather cheekily termed by Washingtonians as the 'Hinckley Hilton'.  It's also the hotel where I stayed as part of a high school trip back in 1996 long before dreaming I would make my home here! Celebrating its Diamond Jubilee this year the hotel has welcomed nearly every US president and has been a meeting place for leaders from all walks of life.  

Opened on March 25, 1965 and designed by architect William B Tabler, 60 years later the hotel still is vibrant and active within the city. All year they will host a series of special events honoring its rich history and toasting their future.  The hotel will be blending a wave of nostalgia for the 60s through decor and food offerings (Baked Alaska anyone?) . As part of this they're unveiling a specialty 60s cocktail, the 1919 Boulevardier, crafted with Maker's Mark, Cacao infused Campari, and Dolin Sweet Vermouth (the best!).  

I think it's time for a revisit to this Washington treasure, located at 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW, which should be easy with 4 restaurants inside. 

FINALLY! Bunny Mellon Style is here.

I am pleased to announce the book so many of us have been waiting on has arrived: Bunny Mellon Style by Linda Jane Holden, Thomas Lloyd, and Bryan Huffman with forward by Tory Burch. Just in time for gift season with a drop date of December 7, 2021 from publisher Gibbs Smith,  this book finally shares with us the personal homes of style icon, Bunny Mellon.  

While books released in the past few years have been great, they left me wanting more, even the stunning Sothebys auction catalogs. This book answers that need. I remember thinking "Wait, what about their Paris apartment?" -now there is a chapter and personal photos devoted to the spaces.  

The book is an intimate look at Bunny told by those who knew her best. Through interviews and letters you get a look inside her family homes as well as her closet.  Above, Bunny is in her Sunday kitchen at Oak Spring in a photo by her grandson, Thomas Lloyd.  The perfect painted floor and white kitchen!

We all have become acquainted with Bunny's gardens through previous books and while briefly discussed in this book, it focuses more on the houses and collections themselves. 

I love this shot from Thomas Lloyd of Bunny giving a tour of her Basket House (now part of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation). 

A close up shot of the sink in her famous garden room by designer Bryan Huffman gives a close up look of the trompe l'oeil work of artist Fernand Renard. 

One of the many personal photographs from Thomas Lloyd of Bunny at home at Oak Spring Farm above. Tory Burch, now a style-setter herself,  writes a fascinating foreword about what she's learned about style from Bunny as the now owner and steward of the Mellon's Antiqua estate.  See more about that from Vogue in 2018 HERE. 

I cannot stress how much I enjoyed this book, I nickname it the Bunny Bible!  With everything you could possibly want to know about her secrets on home and entertaining, Bunny Mellon Style is truly the gift of the season and a must for any design library. Pre-order your copy today!

Cover image courtesy Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.  Used with permission of Isabelle Rey.  All other images from the book by Thomas Lloyd with the exception of  the image of the garden room by Bryan Huffman, and the Antiqua garden structure by Daniel Sutherland.  

Architectural collection at the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadero, Paris.

One of the great tourist attractions in Paris lies in Trocadero, the Palais de Chaillot. The palace was partially rebuilt and remodeled in 1937 for the Exposition Internationale in a classical moderne style we would call Art Deco. However, tourists aren't there for the building itself but generally for the best view in town of the Eiffel Tower just across the river.

While tourists jockeyed for selfies in front of the tower I was admiring the crisp neoclassical details and these fantastic gilded statues gracing the courtyard.

8 gilded statues above fountains showing the 'rights of man' flank this terrace. I didn't come just for the Eiffel Tower views though but rather to see an amazing exhibit in the Paris Architectural Museum housed in Chaillot.

I'm not sure how in all of my travels to Paris I had never visited this museum (which was completely deserted, btw) but am so glad I can now add it to my Parisian repertoire.

The exhibit I'm speaking of is the "Masterworks of Architectural Drawing from the Albertina Museum" - a who's who of design history and quite the collection on view in Paris only until March 16, 2020.

Get up close and personal with these incredible drawings such as this rendering of the Hofburg in Vienna.

This stock exchange above for St Petersburg was designed by Giacomo Quarenghi in 1783 but never finished due to funding.

On the modern spectrum of the collection is the model by architect Adolf Loos in 1927 for Josephine Baker's unbuilt townhouse in Paris. 

Loos was a fan of Bakers and designed the townhouse gratis which may explain why it was never built!

Above is only a detail shot of an amazingly detailed painting from 1793 of the Augustus Bridge in Dresden by Johann Gottfried Klinsky. His accurate depiction of Dresden beyond the bridge is pretty amazing;  Compare the Frauenkirche with photos from a post I wrote in 2010 HERE.

I can never get enough of floorplans, even landscape plans. This plan of the Nymphenburg Palace and Gardens date to 1736 by both Dominique and Philipp Girard. 

Trained at Versailles, Dominique was a landscape architect who specialized in water features.  Starting in 1715 he began work at Nymphenburg which was later documented by his son Philipp in this painting in 1736; one of many gardens throughout Europe which were based on Versailles.

Each structure in the garden is carefully rendered and noted to a legend.

The pavilion above is reminiscent of the French Pavilion at the Petit Trianon at Versailles. See photos of that structure from my visit in 2009 HERE.

There are numerous other landscape plans with great details such as the scene above.

This gate was designed for the Beloeil Palace in Belgian by Charles de Wailly in 1782; unfortunately never built because of the French Revolution.

Antonio Galli-Bibiena designed this baroque theatrical backdrop in 1745.

Antonio Canova's monument for the archduchess was immortalized in this drawing by Domenico del Frate in 1805. 

Clemens Holzmeister designed an over-the-top cathedral in 1942 that towered 150 meters high made of reinforced concrete that could hold 14,000 worshipers.  Notice the scale figures of people in the drawing. 

Besides this exhibit which will be closing shortly, sadly, the museum has an enormous collection of plaster architectural fragments such as this copy of an arch at the Hotel de Rohan les Chavaux du Soleil above. One could spend all day wandering around the permanent collection.

A number of plaster architectural models dot the halls as well.

If you haven't been don't delay your visit to the Cite de l'architecture & du Patrimoine at Trocadero -you won't regret it!

The grand Willard Hotel DC, some historical surprises

Most people here in DC know of the Willard: one of the grand dame hotels of the city which one assumes have been there forever.

However what most probably don't know (I for one did not) is that the current hotel is actually mostly a recreation of the historic space!

We recently hosted a tour of the hotel with our ICAA chapter and the hotel historian had some eye opening surprises for us.

Many of the beautiful details which appear to date to the hotel's rebuilding in 1901 when the beaux arts style hotel was built actually date to 1986!

Lets back up here. Yes the hotel is historic. Like many hotels however it has been renovated and rebuilt almost continuously since its founding in 1818 (the year is a stretch but is when a hotel was first built on this site). Above is the lobby as it appeared in 1950. One recognizes the overall space but decoration and mid-centuryisms are the focus.

And above is how the lobby appeared in 1984! This area of Washington suffered greatly during the 1968 riots and after being ransacked the hotel was closed and practically abandoned.

 Finally in 1984 work began under new ownership to rebuild the luxury hotel.

 Above is the famous Peacock Alley, both before and after renovation, where society once had afternoon tea and today you can again as well.

It is said that the term 'lobbyist' was originated in this very hotel. Abraham Lincoln would cross the street from the White house to smoke cigars and have a brandy in the lobby as his wife did not approve of such behavior, and he would be accosted in the lobby by people asking favors; hence the term lobbyist was coined!

 Above the same area before restoration. As many of the fixtures appear to be original and everything in such good 'olde' condition I had assumed the hotel has sat this way for generations.

One of the oldest appearing rooms is known as the Crystal Room which features the original gas (now electrified) chandeliers. The building time period of this hotel was known as the gilded age after all!

 And below the Crystal Room as it appeared prior to the renovation. One can recognize the room by the beautiful plaster ceiling.

 All of the 'marble' pilasters and columns throughout the hotel are faux painted or scagliola (an Italian technique of creating faux marble) done in 1986 (recreating the former faux marble).

 Beautiful crisp plasterwork.

The former grand dining room features mahogany paneling. Sadly the restaurant closed during the recession but is still available for events.

The dining room was the site of a murder by a crazed congressman who shot his waiter in 1856 (read about that here for a good time).

The lower paneling is a recreation of the original as only the upper paneling survived but looks a pretty close match although less ornate.

The hotel also claims to have been where the Mint Julep made its original debut in the famous Round Robin bar(more about that here).  One can still order one in the bar today which I highly recommend!

The restoration of the hotel is a lovely recreation and modernization of this iconic hotel -so successful that no one on the tour had any idea it wasn't all original!

 All is not preserved however. During the renovation the original ballroom on the top floors of the hotel was moved into the basement, seen below, and the upper floors split into additional meeting and guest rooms with a few additional stories added to the hotel.

My favorite part of this renovation however is that the craftsmen still exist to create such intricate detailing.

If you are in the Washington metropolitan area I hope you will considering joining us on one of our many tours or perhaps considering joining the organization! Check out our website's Calendar of events and our facebook page which are constantly updated.

 And if not I hope you will add tea or a drink at the Willard hotel to your Washington visit.

All historic photos provided by the Willard Intercontinental hotel while all present day photos my own.