Posts in Category: Archives
Exterior and Political
Front of the Hotel
The political influence within and from the Mayflower Hotel has been quite monumental. The hotel itself is only blocks away from the White House and the Capitol Building. This puts the site at the heart of political influence. Many renowned political and governmental figures have stayed within this hotel, and many have performed many political acts/speeches within. One such example would be how Harry S. Truman stayed within the Mayflower Hotel during his first 90 days of presidency. Additionally, as I’ve spoken about before, the hotel holds many political campaigns and strives to motivate their voters to actually vote within elections. During this previous election, the hotel took the initiative to have their guests make a pledge to vote for their candidates. The hotel held many inaugural events and has hosted many international government officials; such as Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill. The hotel is a hotbed for political talk as it is in the hub of such a politically charged city.
The political influence of the Mayflower Hotel is quite strong actually.An example of the hotels surrounding political influence would be how the Mayflower Hotel hosted the Inaugural Ball of President Calvin Coolidge just two weeks after its opening. It hosted an Inaugural Ball every four years until it hosted its final ball in January 1981. It has not hosted an Inaugural Ball since. President-elect Herbert Hoover established his presidential planning team offices in the hotel in January 1928, and his Vice President, Charles Curtis, lived there in one of the hotel’s residential guest rooms during his four years in office. By being surrounded by such political figures, the hotel itself seems to be quite politically influenced.
On the basis of the exterior, the hotel itself has quite the historic feel to it. The hotels’ main entrance features grand gold detailing and large flags for the District of Columbia and also the hotels’ flags. The exterior hasn’t really been touched up so the comparison between the exterior and interior is quite stark. This is fitting though, as the outside is quite historic and shows the history of the hotel, while the interior plays to a new sense of modernism.
Digital Archive Interior and Cultural
Main Lobby
The interior of the Mayflower Hotel hold much cultural influence. The recently renovated lobby of the hotel still holds true to the Beaux-Arts architecture, meaning it is a style of heavily ornamented classicism. This style strongly considers the function of the space. This holds true to the vast lobby, which it adorned with gold detailing and extravagant chandeliers. However, the new renovation of the hotel brings about elements of modernism, to add a mix of classicism with a modern touch. The ceiling window has recently been brought back to the hotel so the whole ceiling is glass. This brings a new dimension to the hotel as you can see the sky whenever in the lobby. Additionally, the two hallways leading from the lobby also bring about that sense of “space” as they are vast and wide. Either hallway will lead you to another area of the first floor of the hotel which seems to follow the same architectural style of the lobby.
Hallway from Main Lobby
The cultural influence within in the hotel holds true throughout the architectural style. Even as the hotel has been recently renovated, the hotel still holds the same classicism that brought many notable guests to these grounds. The overall “style” holds a cultural influence towards the hotel as it still holds this sense of grandeur and luxury. Additionally, the hotel still has many of the same artifacts from the original Mayflower Hotel. The chandeliers, gold adorned ceilings, and mirrored walls were all part of the hotel during its early years. The interior of the Mayflower Hotel shows much of its “culture”, that this hotel is an old-fashioned American luxury. When guests visit this hotel, they can feel that authenticity; that overall feeling of a hotel with true grandeur.
Digital Archive 5: The Ceremonial Hall
The ceremonial hall of the Mayflower Hall is quite stunning. There are flowers sprung throughout the room in various pastel colors. Additionally, the artistic style detailing on the ceiling relates to romanticism on such a level; as after all this is a room where guests plan to get married. There is carpeted flooring in a pastel purple and deep red color way, which seems quite out-dated but still just as pretty. Lastly, the room itself is not quite big but it seems to be clustered with various items and objects sprung throughout the room, as a means of making the room look “pretty”.
Digital Archive 4: The Hallways
The hallways within the Mayflower Hotel show true luxury and give reason as to why many important and wealthy figures stay within this hotel. Each hallway on the main floor is quite long and is accompanied by many ceiling-to-floor mirrors all the way down. Additionally the detailing on the ceiling is quite interesting as there are many detailed circles repeated throughout. Also there are cone-shaped lights illuminating the hallway to give a dim-light feel to the atmosphere of the hotel. Lastly, the marble floors are pristine with brown-black diamond shapes placed all the way down the hallway, to give quite the artistic feel.
Digital Archive 3: The Building Itself
The 90+ year old Mayflower Hotel exemplifies and old fashioned and simplistic feel to it. The old hotel remains quite simple and original as many new hotels emerge with new and innovating concepts. The hotel itself is located on Connecticut Avenue and is approximately 5-10 minutes away from the White House. The hotel is located, in between two office buildings and the overall placement of the hotel seems quite, “out of place” as everything around it is quite new and modern. The ten story building features two rectangular towers that are connected by the lobby, with a third tower seen all the way in the back.
Digital Archives 2: The Exterior
The exterior of the Mayflower Hotel features various American flags surrounding the outside of the hotel. Additionally, the exterior of the hotel seems to have a very old fashioned feel to it when compared to the interior. As the interior was recently restored, the exterior seems to hold the classic feel of the hotel. With simple brick and stone detailing, the hotel has a very simple geometric feel to it. The old lavish part of the exterior would be the door to the lobby, which is adorned with gold detailing and baroque artistry. The exterior really shows how long this hotel has been around.
Digital Archive 1 : Interior of Mayflower Hotel
The Mayflower Hotel’s lobby is one of a lavish architectural style. The style of the hotel is based off of Beaux-Arts style which focuses on a very rich, lavish architecture which banks on old fashioned classicism. The interior of the hotel has baroque style carvings on the walls as a means of relating to the luxurious style of the hotel. Additionally, there seems to be large chandeliers within the hallways of the hotel to allude to its classic feel. The hallways are long and the floors are a beautiful tanned marble. The overall feel of the lobby within the hotel alludes luxury to the highest degree.
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