What was once one of the world's most glamorous hotels soon hopes to reclaim its former reputation. After undergoing a $125 million renovation, The Watergate Hotel will reopen its doors this summer.
The Watergate Hotel will reopen this summer, after undergoing a $125 million renovation. The hotel will have 240 guest rooms, a fine dining restaurant, a whiskey bar stocked with some of the best bottles in the world, a rooftop bar and a 12,500 square-foot spa and fitness facility.
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
When it reopens, The Watergate Hotel will have a rooftop bar and lounge, complete with 360-degree views of the Potomac River and the monuments.
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
At the hotel’s topping off event on Thursday, owner/developer Jacques Cohen, Managing Director Johnny So, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans and owner/developer Rakel Cohen plant seeds that will be used for the hotel’s landscaping.
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
“Mad Men” costume designer Janie Bryant attended the topping off ceremony at The Watergate Hotel. Bryant designed the staff uniforms for the hotel, which will reopen this summer.
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
Bryant’s uniform sketch for a front desk employee. Bryant won an Emmy Award for her costume designs on “Mad Men.”
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
Bryant’s uniform sketch for a Watergate Hotel doorman. Bryant won an Emmy Award for her costume designs on “Mad Men.”
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
Bryant’s uniform sketch for a whiskey bar server at The Watergate Hotel. Bryant won an Emmy Award for her costume designs on “Mad Men.”
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
The rooftop bar and lounge at The Watergate Hotel will offer 360-degree views of the nation’s capital.
(WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
A rendering of the guest rooms at the Watergate Hotel, which is undergoing a $125 million renovation.
(Courtesy Euro Capital Properties)
Courtesy Euro Capital Properties
A rendering of the lobby at The Watergate Hotel.
(Courtesy Euro Capital Properties)
WASHINGTON – What was once one of the world’s most glamorous hotels soon hopes to reclaim its former reputation. After undergoing a $125 million renovation, The Watergate Hotel will reopen its doors this summer.
The hotel, which opened in 1965 and has been closed for the last seven years, will have 340 guest rooms, a fine dining restaurant, a whiskey bar, a 12,500 square-foot spa and fitness center and a rooftop bar and lounge with panoramic views of the Potomac River and the city – all in a mid-century modern design.
And the hotel’s interior isn’t the only aspect that’s being upgraded. The staff will get a new look, too.
Janie Bryant, the Emmy Award winning costume designer for AMC’s hit show “Mad Men,” was tasked with designing the staff uniforms for the new hotel. She says finding inspiration for the designs wasn’t difficult – she looked to the hotel’s historic glamour and its future plans for prestige.
“Another inspiration for me was to look back at the ’50s and ‘60s – a period that I know very well – looking at what a lot of the uniforms were at the time,” Bryant says. “I’m here to make the world beautiful with uniforms … I just love that whole concept of bringing glamour back.”
The hotels owners and developers, Jacques and Rakel Cohen, hosted a topping off ceremony for the hotel on Thursday. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Ward 2 council member Jack Evans were among those who attended. Both see the reopening, which will create jobs and attract tourists, as an economic plus for the city.
“The District has changed. We’re a real destination point now,” Evans says “I do believe if they can do what they’re saying they’re going to do and make this a four-star or five-star hotel, given the changes that have occurred in the city, this will become a real destination and people will want to stay here.”
The Watergate Hotel will also have an indoor pool, meeting and event space, a ballroom and 10,000 square feet of outdoor terraces overlooking the Potomac River.
