A Brief History

The Willard

Two Centuries on Pennsylvania Avenue

A short tour of the moments that have unfolded under the Willard's roof — through generations of history, iconic guests, and now, our wedding celebration.

  1. 1816

    A row of houses on the avenue

    Six small wood-frame buildings open on the corner of 14th and Pennsylvania — a modest stop for travelers passing through the young capital.

  2. 1847

    The Willard name

    Henry Willard, a Vermont hotelier, takes over the property and lends it the name it would carry for the next two centuries.

  3. 1861

    Lincoln before his inauguration

    Abraham Lincoln and his family lodge at the Willard for ten days leading up to his first inauguration, occupying Parlor Number Six. The final bill — $773.75 — was sent quietly along to the White House.

  4. 1861

    "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

    After watching a review of Union troops, Julia Ward Howe wakes in her Willard room and writes the verses of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in a single sitting before dawn.

  5. 1862

    "The center of Washington"

    Nathaniel Hawthorne, writing in The Atlantic, declares that the Willard "may be more justly called the center of Washington and the Union than either the Capitol, the White House, or the State Department."

  6. 1869

    The lobby — and the lobbyists

    President Grant takes his evening cigar and brandy in the Willard lobby; the petitioners who gather around him there are said, by legend at least, to have given the word lobbyist its name.

  7. 1901

    The Beaux-Arts hotel rises

    The present-day building opens, designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh — the same architect responsible for New York's Plaza and Dakota.

  8. 1923

    A president in residence

    Calvin Coolidge moves into a Willard suite for several weeks after Harding's death, awaiting Florence Harding's departure from the White House.

  9. 1963

    A dream finished here

    On the night of August 27, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. completes the final draft of his speech in his Willard room. The next morning he delivers it from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

  10. 1968

    The doors close

    After decades of decline, the Willard is shuttered. Its Beaux-Arts façade stands empty for eighteen years.

  11. 1986

    A meticulous restoration

    After a careful, period-faithful restoration of the façade, lobby, and Peacock Alley, the Willard reopens its doors — returning to the address it had held for more than a century.

  12. 2026

    Paulina & Evan

    On December 12, we begin our chapter at the Willard — adding ours to the many stories it has held.

We're thrilled to host you somewhere with such a long and lovely history — and to add a December evening of our own.