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Learn About Our History and Staff |
 The Hotel Harrington is the last of its kind in
Washington, D.C.. Still owned and operated by members of the
founding families, the Harrington continues its 94 year
tradition of providing value and convenience to the tourists and
visitors of our great Capital City. Now in its third generation
of ownership, it has the longest record of continuous operation
of any hotel in the city of Washington, D.C.
The hotel was constructed in three phases over a period of 11
years. The first phase consisted of a six story building with 80
guest rooms which opened in 1914. In the lobby of the hotel you
will find the original architectural rendering, for the original
phase of construction, produced by the firm of Richard
Fitzsimons. The second phase of construction was completed in
1918 and consisted of a 12 story addition on the E Street side
of the original building. This addition consisted of 100
additional rooms, a grand ballroom, and a third elevator. |
 On
the left is a picture of our antique mailbox which was installed
in 1918. This working mailbox has a drop chute that runs from
the top floor down, with every floor having a drop slot ........
and a glass panel front allows you to watch your mail, and
the mail from the upper floors, sliding down toward the
ornate holding box on the lobby level.In 1925, the hotel was extended on down to 12th Street with
another 12 story addition. This added 125 more guest rooms and
one more elevator to the hotel. The Hotel Harrington now had 305
guest rooms making it the largest hotel in the city at that
time.
Since 1925, the basic structure of the hotel has remained
intact, however, in 1945 major interior changes were undertaken.
In an effort to make the interior more contemporary for the
period, the two story heights of the ballroom and hotel lobby
were reduced by half, and the mezzanine level was eliminated.
This gave the hotel a more modern feel, and allowed for the
creation of an additional 10 guest rooms.
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| In 1938, air conditioning was installed in the hotel
replacing the original negative draft system that had been built
into the building from the start. The negative draft system
utilized huge fans located on the roof of the building to draw
air from each of the hotel's hallways. By opening the guest room
window, and by controlling the tilt of the valance above the
guest room door with the adjustment lever, guests were able to
establish a comfortable circulation of outside air into their
rooms during the warm summer months up through the summer of
1937. By 1938, guests of the Hotel Harrington had something no
other hotel guest in Washington, D.C. could boast: AIR
CONDITIONING had arrived and was installed hotel wide. Yes, the
Hotel Harrington was the very first hotel in Washington, D.C. to
make air conditioning available to their guests, and summer
visits were never more pleasant from that time forward. At about this same time, the former, full service fine dining
restaurant was also completely re-worked. In addition to
lowering the ceiling and relocating the entrance off the lobby,
the concept was changed to a cafeteria style dining. The new
restaurant, named the Kitcheteria, opened in the fall of 1941
and was an immediate success. Everyday brought a new variety of
fresh, always from scratch Kitcheteria specialties. Homestyle
cooking was a part of every Kitchiteria meal. Huge sacks of
potatoes were always on hand for the homemade mashed potatoes,
and the baker arrived every morning at 4 AM to bake fresh biscuits,
breads, pies, and other desserts from our own ovens.
During the 48 years the Kitcheteria operated, very few
changes were made to the magic formula, and it is estimated that
something exceeding 15,000,000 meals were served during the
restaurant's memorable run.Unfortunately, times and tastes changed over the years, and
in 1991 the Kitcheteria closed as the daily volume of customers
declined. Today, in its place, is a mixture of the old
and the new. The new restaurant,
Harriet's Family Cafe, offers an
economical buffet for breakfast until 11:00 AM. Traditional
table service follows with lunch from 11 AM to 4:30 PM,
then dinner from 4:30 PM to 9 PM. Although food
services stops at this time, the cafe remains open
until 11:00 PM to allow hotel guests free access to the
Internet connected computers.
In 1928 the hotel opened the Pink Elephant Cocktail
Lounge. This popular gathering place became world famous
during World War II, and continued in operation until
1986. Today it has been replaced by Harry's Pub which
serves sandwiches and lighter fare for lunch and dinner
and late into the night, along with a full selection of
beers, wines, and mixed drinks. A pinball machine, two
dart boards, and numerous televisions are operating all
day long for everyone to enjoy. |
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Pat - 42 years with
the Hotel Harrington...currently in the Executive
Housekeeper's department |
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Marianna and JoAnn -
64 years of combined housekeeping service to the Hotel
Harrington |
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Wendall
- 27 years of service in the
Engineering Department |
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This
photo was taken in 1989 during our transition. Note the
black telephone system that replaced our old switchboard. |
| No hotel can operate without a captain of the ship, and in
the hotel business that captain is called the General Manager.
The people who occupy this top spot can sometimes be legends in
their own right, and we may have had a couple of our very own.
In the 94 years the Hotel Harrington has been open for business,
it has had a grand total of just FOUR General Managers ......
this may well be a record that will never be broken. The very
first was a man by the name of W. E. Fairfield. He opened the
hotel in 1914. Then came Frank Gumpbert who was a veteran of the
Spanish American War, and had a peg leg. He ran the
hotel until 1934 when control was turned over to a young man by the name of
Robert Bryce. Starting in 1934 Mr. Bryce ruled the Hotel
Harrington for an astonishing 51 years!!!! (If anyone knows of
another hotel General Manager who has managed to beat this
record, we would certainly like to know the name of that person
and the story they have to tell). Upon Mr. Bryce's retirement in
1985, the controls were handed over to our very own Ms. Ann
Terry who is the current General Manager and overseer of all
good things our guests enjoy during their visit to our hotel.
 We are always in search of more history of our fine hotel. If
you, or someone you know, have been a part of the Hotel
Harrington's wonderful past, we would love to hear from you. We
are in the process of collecting memorabilia and historical
information from the earliest days of the hotel, and we are
planning to include selected samples in this section of our
website. Photographs, stories, promotional items, whatever you
might think would be of interest, might be of valuable interest
to us. Any assistance you might be able to provide to us would
be greatly appreciated. |
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