Tag Archive | Raleigh Hotel
December 2, 2024  

Then & Now: The New Raleigh Hotel Washington DC, 1912

Some of the city’s oldest hotels not only have a long history of storied visitors and impressive tales, but they’ve shaped the city’s landscape for decades and perhaps centuries. However, for every Hay-Adams, Willard Continental and Morrison-Clark, there’s a hotel like the the Raleigh Hotel that’s either been converted and or destroyed entirely.

Raleigh Hotel (THEN): Along with the Willard, the Raleigh Hotel was one of the largest and grandest hotels in Washington in the first part of the twentieth century. It held a commanding position on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the Old Post Office Building and was famous as a Mecca for patrons of the performing arts. In 1911, the building was razed and rebuilt as a 13-story Beaux Arts hotel.

Raleigh Hotel 1912

The recently completed Raleigh Hotel at Pennsylvania Ave and 12th Street NW, built on the site of the previous Raleigh Hotel. Photo taken by Lewis Reed, ca. 1912

Raleigh Hotel (NOW): The hotel closed in 1963, its furnishings were sold off, and it was demolished a year later. Its replacement, a 14-story office building at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, was completed in 1968, and it still stands on the site today.

Raleigh Hotel

The site of the Raleigh as it appears today.