L'Enfant Plaza Hotel
| L'Enfant Plaza Hotel | |
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Looking east across L'Enfant Plaza at the front of the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel
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 Location within Washington, D.C.
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| General information | |
| Location | 480 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′2″N 77°1′26″W / 38.88389°N 77.02389°W |
| Opening | May 31, 1973 |
| Owner | Stanford Corp. (as of December 2013) |
| Management | None (closed for renovation on Dec. 3, 2013) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 6 (building: 12) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Vlastimil Koubek |
| Developer | L'Enfant Plaza Corp. and Loews Hotels |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 372 |
| Number of suites | 10 |
| Number of restaurants | 2 |
| Website | |
| www |
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The L'Enfant Plaza Hotel is a hotel located in downtown Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was designed by architect Vlastimil Koubek, and named after Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the first surveyor and designer of the street layout of the city. It was inaugurated on May 31, 1973. The hotel is listed as a Mobile 4-star and AAA 4-Diamond Luxury Hotel.
The L'Enfant Plaza Hotel sits atop L'Enfant Plaza, an esplanade and plaza structure erected above a highway and a parking garage in the Southwest quadrant of the District of Columbia. The plaza and hotel were approved in 1955, but construction did not begin on the plaza (on which the hotel sits) until 1965. The plaza and esplanade were completed in 1968. The start of construction on the hotel was delayed three years, and was completed in May 1973. The construction led to a lawsuit after it was found that the foundation of an adjoining structure had encroached on the hotel's property. The hotel suffered a serious fire in 1975 that claimed the lives of two people.
L'Enfant Plaza Corp., which owned the hotel, sold the structure to Sarakreek Holdings in 1998, which in turn sold it to the JBG Companies in 2003. A legal battle ensued over the hotel's ownership. The hotel's long-time operator, Loews Hotels, was replaced by Crestline Hotels & Resorts in 2005, which was in turn replaced by the Davidson Hotel Company in 2010. The L'Enfant Plaza Hotel features 372 guest rooms, 36 larger "Executive Rooms", and several suites on the top four floors of a 12-story mixed-use building. The hotel has two main restaurants and two bars among its many amenities.
The L'Enfant Plaza Hotel closed on December 3, 2013, for what was to be a year-long overhaul and upgrade of the entire property. In January 2014, the reopening date was moved to some time in 2015.
In 1946, the United States Congress passed the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act, which established the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency and provided for clearance of land and redevelopment funds in the capital. After a decade of discussion, public comment, legal battles, and negotiations with landowners and developers, the Southwest Urban Renewal Plan was approved in November 1956. New York City developer William Zeckendorf proposed a grand mall along 10th Street SW, extending from Independence Avenue SW to end at a traffic circle at G Street SW. Zeckendorf named this mall L'Enfant Plaza after Pierre Charles L'Enfant, an architect responsible for planning the city of Washington. L'Enfant Plaza was approved for construction in April 1955. In December 1959, Zeckendorf won approval to build a 1,000-room hotel and five privately owned office buildings on L'Enfant Plaza. The Redevelopment Land Agency also approved the condemnation and razing of 14 city blocks for construction of the plaza, hotel, and office buildings. Construction was to have begun on January 1, 1961, but was delayed due to unresolved design issues with L'Enfant Promenade, the short time-frame to prepare detailed construction plans, and because Congress had not granted air rights above 9th Street SW to the developers.
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