Washington ยท Downtown
The Willard
Henry J. Hardenbergh's 1901 hotel two blocks from the White House, where Martin Luther King Jr. revised the 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963.
- Built
- 1901Built 1901 to Henry J. Hardenbergh's design (building permit April 5, 1900, Virginia Hotel Co.); addition 1925; restored 1984-85. A hotel has stood on the corner since 1818, when a Tayloe row house was leased as a hotel.
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- Architect
- Henry J. Hardenbergh
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Area
- Downtown
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Inside a National Register historic district; Local landmark; Historic Hotels of America member
The story
A row house built by Captain John Tayloe at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue was leased as a hotel in 1818, and Henry Willard took over its management in 1847. The present Beaux-Arts building replaced it in 1901. President-elect Abraham Lincoln lived here for ten days before his 1861 inauguration, Julia Ward Howe wrote the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ here in 1862, and Martin Luther King Jr. revised the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in the lobby in 1963. The hotel closed on July 15, 1968, was taken by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation in 1978, and reopened as the Willard InterContinental on August 20, 1986.
Good to know
- Parking: on-site paid
- Pets welcome
- Address: 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004
Things to do
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Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.