Rooftop Bar, A Ballroom, and Restored Facade: Inside the Plans to Revive Hotel Harrington

• August 28th

by UrbanTurf Staff

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DC's Hotel Harrington is slated for a top-to-bottom renovation and new plans filed with DC outline what the new product will look like.

Owner 436 DC Fee Owner LLC — an affiliate of the Georgetown Company — has filed a Historic Preservation Review Board application, with Gensler serving as project architect, seeking permit review for the work.

The plans, filed by new owner KHP Capital Partners, call for a renovated hotel that will retain roughly 215 guest rooms, but add a lobby with a bar and lounge, a restaurant, meeting space, a fitness center, and a new 2,500-square-foot ballroom to be housed atop the original seven-story portion of the building. The existing penthouse atop the taller 12-story wing will be converted into an indoor/outdoor bar and lounge with a surrounding terrace, giving the hotel a rooftop destination overlooking Penn Quarter. Inside, plans call for a full gut renovation and the restoration of a two-story hotel lobby.

On the exterior, the filing takes a preservation-minded approach: additions like mismatched signage, canopies, and fire escapes would come down, while windows and ground-floor storefronts would be replaced to match the building's originals. The team also plans to reintroduce Juliette balconies, repair masonry and terracotta cornices, and move the main hotel entrance back to its historic location with new canopies for both the hotel and restaurant entrances. 

The Hotel Harrington billed itself as D.C.'s longest continually operating hotel before it closed in 2023 after more than a century in business. The property drew attention in recent years as an unofficial gathering spot for the Proud Boys during the first Trump administration, but its low rates and prime location — steps from Metro Center and the National Mall — long made it a fixture for budget-conscious tourists. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/rooftop_bar_ballroom_and_restored_facade_inside_the_plans_to_revive_hotel_h/24942.