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Waldorf Astoria Washington DC
Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States · Waldorf Astoria · High Luxury
Waldorf Astoria Washington DC inhabits the Old Post Office at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, Willoughby J. Edbrooke's 1899 Romanesque Revival steel-frame landmark with a 315-foot clock tower. Trump International flagged the tower from 2016; Hilton returned the Waldorf name in June 2022. José Andrés's Bazaar Meat and Daisuke Nakazawa's sushi counter cook in the old postal palace, halfway between the White House and the Capitol.
- 263 rooms
- Opened 2016
- Neighborhood: Federal Triangle
- Rooms from 475 sq ft (44 m²)
- Architect: Willoughby J. Edbrooke
- Interiors: Hirsch Bedner Associates
About Waldorf Astoria Washington DC
- Edbrooke's 1899 building was Washington's first steel-frame structure; the clock tower rises 315 feet, among the capital's tallest.
- Nancy Hanks and preservationists saved it from 1960s demolition; the National Park Service still runs public clock-tower tours.
- Hirsch Bedner Associates converted it to Trump International Hotel in 2016; the lease sold and it reopened as Waldorf Astoria in June 2022.
- Bazaar Meat by José Andrés and Sushi Nakazawa sit in the house, with Peacock Alley in the nine-story atrium.
History
The building at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW began with a Congressional directive and a supervising architect who did not live to see it finished. Construction ran from 1892 to 1899, during which time Willoughby J. Edbrooke — Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department — died, leaving the project to be completed by his successors. The Old Post Office was purpose-built to house the U.S. Post Office Department Headquarters and the city's post office, filling an entire city block on the federal corridor between the Capitol and the White House. Edbrooke's design was a mature expression of the Romanesque Revival style that H. H. Richardson had popularized in the preceding decades, rendered in Vinalhaven granite from Maine on a steel frame — the first steel-frame building erected in Washington. Its nine-story atrium, tower rising to 315 feet, and Byzantine sculptural capitals mixed with French Gothic dormers made the building the most architecturally complex federal structure on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Old Post Office was barely a decade old before the federal government began discussing its demolition. The post office function moved to a facility near Union Station by 1914 — the building had been designed for a purpose it quickly outgrew — and by 1928 the development of the Federal Triangle to the south threatened the building's existence. The Great Depression saved it temporarily by draining the funds needed for demolition. Through the 1960s, demolition was repeatedly considered and repeatedly deferred, until a coalition of preservationists led in part by Nancy Hanks, the politically influential chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, convinced Congress to reverse a 1964 recommendation that only the clock tower be retained. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and rehabilitated as a mixed-use retail and office space through the 1970s and 1980s, with the iconic atrium serving as a festival marketplace.
In 2013, the General Services Administration selected the Trump Organization to redevelop the building as a luxury hotel under a long-term lease. The renovation, with interiors by Hirsch Bedner Associates, transformed the historic building into Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., which opened in September 2016. The hotel operated for less than six years under that name: in 2022, the Trump Organization sold the lease, and the property reopened as Waldorf Astoria Washington DC in June 2022 under Hilton management, becoming one of the flagship properties in Hilton's premier luxury brand.
The building's position — halfway between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, within the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site, adjacent to the Federal Triangle and within a short walk of the National Mall and every major Smithsonian museum — makes it the most historically and politically charged hotel address in the American capital. The nine-story atrium that was once a public post office now houses the hotel's lobby bar and common spaces, and the Pennsylvania Avenue Clock Tower, still operated by the National Park Service, offers public tours to the building's highest accessible point, 270 feet above the street. The building holds AAA Four Diamond recognition and, by virtue of its address and its architecture, an unmatched place in the federal landscape of Washington.
The setting
Waldorf Astoria Washington DC inhabits the Old Post Office, a Romanesque Revival landmark at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW whose 315-foot clock tower — the third-tallest structure in the capital — has anchored the Federal Triangle since 1899. Designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke as the city's first steel-framed building, it occupies the midpoint of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site between the White House and the U.S. Capitol. The Smithsonian Natural History Museum is a five-minute walk; the National Gallery of Art thirteen minutes on foot; the Washington Monument sixteen; and the adjacent Federal Triangle Metro station places the entire Smithsonian campus within effortless reach.
Restaurants and bars
- Peacock Alley — Bar · refined small plates and cocktails
- Bazaar Meat by José Andrés — Restaurant · modern steakhouse · Chef José Andrés
- Sushi Nakazawa — Restaurant · Japanese omakase sushi · Chef Daisuke Nakazawa · One MICHELIN Star
Experiences
- Clock tower observation deck — Views from the observation deck of the building's clocktower, the third-tallest building in Washington, D.C.
- Sushi Nakazawa omakase — Omakase of Chef Daisuke Nakazawa at Michelin-starred Sushi Nakazawa.
- Peacock Alley cocktails — Creative cocktails at Peacock Alley, located in the Lobby.
Amenities
- Spa
- Fitness center
- Fine dining
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Four Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star (2026)
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