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Fairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown

Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States · Fairmont · High Luxury

Fairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown: ExteriorFairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown: ExteriorFairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown: Bedroom

Czech-born Vlastimil Koubek, credited with more than 100 Washington buildings, designed this ten-story Postmodernist West End hotel, opened December 1985 as The Westin at roughly $65 million. Sarah Tomerlin Lee centered the interiors on a glass garden atrium; a ninth-floor secure floor can be isolated for diplomatic guests. After ANA and Monarch chapters, Fairmont took over in 2002 at 2401 M Street NW, where West End meets Georgetown.

About Fairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown

History

The building that houses Fairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown was constructed between 1983 and 1985 by the Oliver Carr Company, one of the Washington metropolitan area's most prolific real estate developers, on the northwest corner of 24th and M Streets NW in the city's West End neighborhood. Designed by Vlastimil Koubek — the Czech-born Washington architect who shaped more than 100 buildings in the capital during the 1960s through 1980s and was named by Washingtonian magazine in 1985 as one of twenty people who had most profoundly altered the look of the city — the ten-story Postmodernist structure cost an estimated $65 million to build, making it one of the most significant hotel investments in Washington during a period of intense downtown development. Westin Hotels financed the project, and Clark Construction built it with its subsidiary George Hyman Construction. When it opened in December 1985, the hotel joined The Grand Hotel and the Park Hyatt Washington at the same intersection, a concentration that Washington insiders briefly called 'Hotel Corner.'

Koubek gave the building a facade of glazed brick, granite, and limestone under a copper-covered roof, with pediment-framed windows and slightly projecting bays that gave it a civic weight appropriate to a block within walking distance of Georgetown University, the Kennedy Center, and several of Washington's most prominent embassy residences. Interiors by Sarah Tomerlin Lee centered on a glass-enclosed garden atrium — the feature that would remain the hotel's defining spatial gesture through every subsequent change of ownership and name. A ninth-floor 'secure floor' was built from the outset with the capacity to be isolated from the rest of the building for diplomatic or presidential guests, reflecting the hotel's awareness of its diplomatic neighborhood from day one.

The hotel opened as The Westin Hotel, was sold in December 1989 to All Nippon Airways for approximately $100 million and rebranded the ANA Hotel, then passed to Lowe Enterprises in 1998, which renamed it the Washington Monarch Hotel and commissioned a $12 million renovation by Wilson & Associates. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts assumed management in October 2002 when Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust purchased the property, and the hotel took its current identity — Fairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown. A $27 million renovation completed in January 2017, overseen by Wimberly Interiors for the guest rooms and Forrest Perkins for the lobby and courtyard, modernized the interiors while preserving the glass-enclosed Garden Court atrium. The former amphitheater on the lower level was reconfigured as the Kennedy Ballroom. The hotel has maintained the AAA Four Diamond designation and built a decades-long reputation as one of Washington's most discreet addresses for heads of state, ambassadors, and the diplomatic community that defines the character of its immediate neighborhood.

The setting

Fairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown stands at 2401 M Street NW where the West End meets the eastern edge of Georgetown — a district that 1974 zoning reforms treating hotels as residential uses transformed from declining Victorian rowhouses into a marquee luxury corridor. M Street connects Georgetown's boutique retail to the west with the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro to the east; the Kennedy Center lies a short distance south toward the Potomac. The White House is fifteen transit minutes away, the National Mall twenty, and the Lincoln Memorial twenty-three, while Michelin-starred Blue Duck Tavern and Rasika stand within the immediate neighborhood.

Restaurants and bars

Amenities

Awards

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