Watergate Hotel
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The Watergate Hotel is a luxury hotel in northwest Washington, DC best known for being at the site of burglaries that led to the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. It is part of a mixed-use complex opened in 1967.
The Watergate complex
The Watergate complex is a superblock bounded on the north by Virginia Avenue, on the east by New Hampshire Avenue, on the south by F Street, and on the west by the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. It is in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood overlooking the Potomac River, adjacent to the Kennedy Center and the embassy of Saudi Arabia. The nearest Metro station is Foggy Bottom-GWU.
The Watergate complex was developed by the Italian firm Societa Generale Immobiliare, which purchased the plot of land on the defunct Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the early 1960s. The last lock, which diverted water from the Potomac River into the Tidal Basin at flood tide, was known as the "water gate." Italian architect Luigi Moretti designed the six buildings on the site: a hotel, two office buildings, three apartment buildings and a retail center.
Individual buildings at the Watergate
The Watergate Hotel is located at 2650 Virginia Avenue NW. It has 250 guest rooms and 146 suites. In 2004, the hotel was purchased by a company planning to turn it into luxury co-ops.
The two Watergate Office Buildings are at 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW and 2600 Virginia Avenue NW. In 1972, the Democratic National Committee had its headquarters on the sixth floor of the 11-story 2600 Virginia Avenue building. On May 28, 1972, a team of burglars working for Nixon's re-election campaign put wiretaps and took photos in and near the DNC chairman's office. The taps were monitored from Room 723 of the Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge hotel across the street at 2601 Virginia Avenue NW. (The hotel is now a freshman dormitory for students at the George Washington University.) During a second burglary on June 17, 1972 to replace a malfunctioning "bug" and collect more information, five burglars were arrested and the Watergate scandal began to unfold.
The three Watergate Apartment buildings total some 600 residential units. Past occupants have included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bob and Elizabeth Dole, Monica Lewinsky, and Paul O'Neill. Current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice now lives in the Watergate.
There is a small (63,000 sq. ft. / 5900 m²) retail center which offers a Safeway supermarket in the basement level and several upscale shops and restaurants at street level.
External links
- The Watergate Hotel (http://www.thewatergatehotel.com/) official site
- Livingston, Mike. "Watergate: The name that branded more than a building (http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/06/17/focus11.html)," Washington Business Journal, June 14, 2002
- Betts, Jack. "What `Watergate' meant, before it meant scandal (http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/columnists/jack_betts/9348327.htm)," Charlotte Observer August 8, 2004