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Hyatt Regency Hotel

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1974–1976, Welton Becket Associates. 400 New Jersey Ave. NW

Located two blocks from the Capitol, the Hyatt Regency Hotel defied the tendency of hotels to locate in the far Northwest Quadrant or in the suburbs. The Hyatt Corporation saw in the empty lots and time-worn buildings an opportunity to provide services and hotel accommodations for lobbyists, industry representatives, and tourists who wished to be close to Capitol Hill. Within a decade and a half, the Hyatt was part of a larger area of rebuilding emanating from the massive Union Station project, a trend that saw the rehabilitation of older hotels nearby.

The major design difficulty was the reconciliation of the Hyatt trademark of a vast open lobby with Washington's height limitation and building codes. The architects therefore designed a sloping five-story lobby roof angled sharply downward, supported by a complex web of steel girders and trusses. The result was a compromise lightwell that is defined by the sides of the interior court and a 130-foot long bridge at the ninth and tenth floors. The exterior is clad with a tan brick punctuated by bronze-framed windows. A rooftop restaurant offers an oblique view of the Capitol.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee
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Data

What's Nearby

Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company
Design Center
United States Tax Court
Georgetown University Law Center
United States Post Office

Citation

Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee, "Hyatt Regency Hotel", [Washington, District of Columbia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DC-01-DE02.

Print Source

Buildings of the District of Columbia, Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 181-181.

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