{"id":644,"date":"2016-11-02T12:54:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T12:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentialhome.eu\/blog\/?p=644"},"modified":"2017-02-27T17:33:13","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T17:33:13","slug":"watergate-hotel-gets-glitzy-midcentury-inspired-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/watergate-hotel-gets-glitzy-midcentury-inspired-makeover\/","title":{"rendered":"The Watergate Hotel Gets a Glitzy Midcentury-Inspired Makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Washington\u2019s Watergate Hotel<\/strong><\/em>, which opened in the mid-1960s, reopened for the first time since closing in 2007 with a gleaming $125 million makeover that the new owners hope will restore some of its original glamour and generate new heat 44 years after the scandal that gave us a suffix for the Nipple-, Monica-, and Panama-gates to come.<\/p>\n

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Built between 1960 and 1965 by Italian architect Luigi Moretti (who died in 1973), the Watergate complex includes residential and commercial office space as well as the hotel. Since 2005, it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, meaning that the building exterior could not be altered.<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO: MIDCENTURY MODERN HOME ACCESSORIES TO GET RIGHT NOW<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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London-based Ron Arad Architects sought to honor the building\u2019s striking midcentury-modern character while updating it for the 21st<\/sup> century with sculptural furniture produced by Italian luxury brand Moroso, reimagining the hotel\u2019s lobby, whiskey bar, and restaurant. New York developer Euro Capital Properties worked with the Washington offices of architectural and interior design firm BBGM on guest rooms (which start at $425) and additional public spaces. Emmy Award\u2013winning Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant was in charge of the staff uniforms.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have a confession to make: our initial attraction to this project was actually the Watergate scandal,\u201d Arad said in a press release. \u201cIt is fantastic that this starting point led us to work on a project that also has such a great architectural legacy. Working within such a significant period piece, you can\u2019t ignore the context, but at the same time you don\u2019t want to mimic it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ron Arad Architects said in a project description that the design \u201cbalances Moretti\u2019s original sensibilities\u201d by adding \u201ca rich palette of patinated metals to the existing marble and plaster.\u201d As an ode to the signature curvy character of the building, \u201csinuous motifs are expressed continuously,\u201d it said, using \u201cbent metal, layered woodwork and subtle texturing of stone surfaces, and complemented by custom-designed furniture, upholstery and rugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And the Washington Post reports that management hasn\u2019t shied away from cheeky nods to the past with touches like pencils embossed with the words \u201cI stole this from the Watergate Hotel,\u201d rooms keys that are labeled \u201cNo need to break in,\u201d a customer service number that incorporates the date the scandal was born (1-844-617-1972), and plans to pipe audio of Richard Nixon into the restrooms.<\/p>\n

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SOURCE: Slate<\/a><\/p>\n

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Washington\u2019s Watergate Hotel, which opened in the mid-1960s, reopened for the first time since closing in 2007 with a gleaming $125 million makeover that the new owners hope will restore some of its original glamour and generate new heat 44 years after the scandal that gave us a suffix for the Nipple-, Monica-, and Panama-gates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[24,12,20,133],"class_list":["post-644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interior-design","tag-design","tag-interior-design","tag-midcentury","tag-watergate-hotel"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1964,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions\/1964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}