The Washington Hilton is a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

in Washington, D.C. It is located at 1919 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., roughly at the boundaries of the Kalorama,

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle (or DuPont Circle) is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW t ...

, and

Adams Morgan Adams Morgan is a neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., centered at the intersection of 18th Street NW and Columbia Road, about 1.5 miles (2.54 km) north of the White House. Notable establishments in the neighborhood include th ...

neighborhoods. The Washington Hilton, located on the former site of the Oak Lawn estate, was designed by architect

William B. Tabler William B. Tabler Sr. (October 28, 1914 – February 3, 2004) was an American architect who designed more than 400 hotels. He was best known for giving Hilton hotels the clean but sometimes stark face of corporate America, most notably in the 46-s ...

and developed by

Uris Buildings Corporation Uris Buildings Corporation was a New York City commercial real estate development company created by Harold and Percy Uris in 1960 from a predecessor private partnership. They retained 60% ownership in the corporation. One of the last building ...

. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 25, 1962 and the hotel officially opened three years later, on March 25, 1965. The hotel structure features a distinctive double-arched design. It long sported the largest pillar-less hotel

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic ...

in the city. Numerous large events have been regularly hosted at the Hilton Washington, including the annual dinners of the

White House Correspondents Association The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

and the Radio and Television Correspondents Association, as well as the

National Prayer Breakfast The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., usually on the first Thursday in February. The founder of this event was Abraham Vereide. The event—which is actually a series of meetings, luncheons, and dinners—has ...

. During the 1960s and 1970s, the hotel hosted a number of big musical acts for concerts in their large ballroom, including

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...

and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

. In 1972 it was home to the first International Conference on Computer Communications which demonstrated new

ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...

technology. The hotel was the site of the assassination attempt on

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

John Hinckley Jr. John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a .22 caliber revolver, Hinc ...

on March 30, 1981. The attempt occurred at the hotel's T Street NW exit. As a result, the hotel is sometimes colloquially referred to by locals as the "Hinckley Hilton". The hotel was renamed the Hilton Washington in 1998. It was purchased in June 2007 by an investment firm jointly owned by former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

star

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

. From 2009-2010 it underwent a $150 million renovation. When that was completed, the hotel returned to its original name.

References

External links

Official site

Ladies and Gentlement, From Los Angeles, California ... The Doors!
- 1967 Doors concert at Washington Hilton
Hendrix Plays the Washington Hilton (1968)
- 1968 Jimi Hendrix concert at the Washington Hilton and review from the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

{{Hotels in Washington D.C. Hotel buildings completed in 1965 Brutalist architecture in Washington, D.C.

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Skyscraper hotels in Washington, D.C. Hotels established in 1965 Dupont Circle Adams Morgan Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan 1965 establishments in Washington, D.C.