The Willard InterContinental

Few hotels can claim to have hosted history as routinely as the Willard. A hotel has stood on this Pennsylvania Avenue corner since the early 19th century, and nearly every American president since Franklin Pierce has passed through; Lincoln lived here before his inauguration, Julia Ward Howe wrote 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' upstairs, and Martin Luther King Jr completed his 'I Have a Dream' speech in the hotel on the eve of the March on Washington. The word 'lobbyist' is popularly, if debatably, traced to the favour-seekers who cornered Ulysses S. Grant in its lobby.

The present building, a 1901 Beaux-Arts landmark by Henry Hardenbergh—architect of New York's Plaza—rises twelve storeys of columned grandeur two blocks east of the White House. Its block-long promenade, Peacock Alley, remains one of Washington's great interiors, all coffered ceilings, marble and potted palms, and the Round Robin Bar keeps up a venerable tradition of mint juleps and political conversation beneath portraits of famous patrons.

Rooms are classically dressed and comfortable rather than fashionable, which suits the clientele: the Willard is where visiting delegations, inauguration guests and history-minded travellers stay to be inside the story rather than adjacent to it. With the National Mall, monuments and Smithsonian museums within an easy walk, it is also simply the most storied base in the capital.