Ua wehewehe ka National Park Service a me ka US Department of Interior i ka moʻolelo o ka Hotele Willard penei:
Ua ʻike ka mea kākau ʻAmelika ʻo Nathaniel Hawthorne i ka makahiki 1860 "hiki ke kapa ʻia ʻo Willard Hotel ʻo ke kikowaena o Wakinekona ma mua o ka Capitol a i ʻole ka Hale Paʻi a i ʻole ke Keʻena Moku'āina." Mai ka makahiki 1847 i ka wā i hoʻokumu mua ai nā kaikuaʻana ʻo Willard, ʻo Henry lāua ʻo Edwin, i mau hale hoʻokipa ma ke kihi o 14th Street a me Pennsylvania Avenue, ua noho ʻo Willard i kahi niche kūʻokoʻa i ka mōʻaukala o Wakinekona a me ka lāhui. I ka makahiki 1847, ua hoʻolimalima ʻo Benjamin Ogle Tayloe i ka hale hana iā Henry A. Willard a me kona kaikaina ʻo Edwin. I ka makahiki 1858, ua hoʻonui hou ka Willards, i ke kūʻai ʻana i ka waiwai o Col. James Kearney a kūkulu i ʻeono papa hoʻohui i ka hōkele…
I ka hoʻomaka ʻana o ke kenekulia iwakālua, ua kūkulu ʻia kahi hōkele ʻo Willard hou e ka hui ʻo George A. Fuller i nā hoʻolālā o ka mea kākau kaulana ʻo Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. I ka makahiki 1922, he ahi nui ka mea i hoʻokuʻu ʻia e Hope Pelekikena Calvin Coolidge, kekahi mau Senatoa US, haku mele ʻo John Philip Sousa, mea hana kiʻiʻoniʻoni ʻo Adolph Zukor a me nā mea ʻē aʻe i hele i ka ʻahaʻaina makahiki Gridiron.
Ua noho ʻo Pelekikena Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Grant, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge a me Harding ma Willard. ʻO nā malihini kaulana ʻē aʻe i komo pū me Charles Dickens, Buffalo Bill, David Lloyd George, PT Barnum, a me nā mea ʻē aʻe he nui. Ua hoʻokomo ʻo Walt Whitman iā Willard i kāna mau paukū a ua kākau ʻo Mark Twain i ʻelua mau puke ma laila i ka makahiki 1900. ʻO ka Hope Pelekikena Thomas R. Marshall, i huhū i nā kumukūʻai kiʻekiʻe o Willard, nāna i hoʻokumu i ka huaʻōlelo "ʻO ka mea e pono ai kēia ʻāina he cigar 5 keneta maikaʻi."
Aia ʻelua mau poloka mai ka Hale Paʻa, ua piha ka hōkele i nā ʻuhane o ka poʻe kaulana a ikaika. I loko o nā makahiki, ʻo ia kahi e ʻākoakoa ai nā pelekikena, nā kālaiʻāina, nā kiaʻāina, nā mea kākau moʻolelo a me nā moʻomeheu. Ma Willard i haku ai ʻo Julia Ward Howe i ka "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Ua mālama ʻo Gen. Ulysses S. Grant i ka ʻaha hoʻokolokolo ma ke keʻena a ua ʻaiʻē ʻo Abraham Linekona i nā kāmaʻa hale mai ka mea nona ka hale. ʻO Mark Twain, ʻo Charles Dickens, ʻo Nathaniel Hawthorne lāua ʻo Jenny Lind kekahi ʻāpana o ka parade o nā malihini kaulana ʻo Willard.
ʻO ka huaʻōlelo politika kū hoʻokahi "lobbyist" i ʻōlelo ʻia ua hoʻokumu ʻia ma ka Willard e wehewehe i kēlā mau mea hoʻolaha hoihoi kūikawā i ka makahiki 19 i hoʻokaʻawale i nā poʻe kālai'āina i ka lobby opulent Willard.
Ua noho hakahaka ʻo Willard a i ka pōʻino o ka wāwahi ʻia mai 1968 a hiki i 1986 i ka wā i hoʻihoʻi ʻia ai i kona nani kahiko. Ua hoʻolālā maikaʻi ʻia kahi papahana hoʻihoʻi $73 miliona e ka National Park Service e hana hou i ka hōkele e like me ka pololei o ka mōʻaukala. Ua ʻoki ʻia nā ʻāpana pena he ʻumikūmāono mai ka hana lāʻau e ʻike ai i nā waihoʻoluʻu mua o ka hōkele i ka makahiki 1901.
Ua kākau ʻo Paul Goldberger ka mea hoʻokalakupua o New York Times ma Kepakemapa 22, 1986:
ʻO ka hapa nui o ka hoʻihoʻi hou ʻana o nā hale hanohano e hāʻule i hoʻokahi o nā ʻano ʻelua; Ke hoʻāʻo nei lākou e hana hou e like me ka mea i hiki i ka wā ma mua, a i ʻole he mau wehewehe noʻonoʻo e hoʻohana ana i ka hoʻolālā kumu ma ke ʻano he lele lele.
ʻO Willard Hotel ka mea hou i hoʻoponopono hou ʻia. ʻO ka hapalua o kēia papahana e pili ana i ka hoʻihoʻi mahalo ʻia o ka hale hōkele nui loa o Wakinekona, kahi hale hoʻohanohano Beaux-Arts na Henry Hardenbergh i haʻalele ʻia mai ka makahiki 1968, kahi i hōʻeha ʻia i ka emi ʻana o kona kaiāulu, he mau poloka ma ka hikina o ka Hale Paʻa. ʻO ka hapa ʻē aʻe he mea hoʻohui hou, nā keʻena, nā hale kūʻai, nā plaza lehulehu a me kahi lumi pila hou no ka hōkele.
ʻO ka wehe hou ʻana o ka hōkele i ka makahiki 1986 ma lalo o ka hoʻokele ʻana o ke kaulahao hōkele ʻo InterContinental - ʻo kona inoa piha ʻo Willard InterContinental Washington - ua hoʻomaikaʻi ʻia me ka hoʻōla hou ʻana i ke kaona o Wakinekona.
He lālā ʻo Willard InterContinental Washington no Historic Hotels of America a me ka National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Ua hoʻopuka ʻia kēia ʻatikala me ka ʻae a ka mea kākau mai ka puke, "Kūkulu ʻia e Noho Hou: 100+ Mau Hōkele Makahiki Ma ka Hikina o ka Misisipi," KopeHouse 2013. ʻO ka mea kākau, ʻo Stanley Turkel, he mana a he kākāʻōlelo no ka ʻoihana hōkele. Hoʻohana ʻo ia i kona hōkele, hoʻokipa a me ka hana aʻoaʻo aʻoaʻo loea i ka hoʻokele waiwai, nā loiloi hana a me ka maikaʻi o nā ʻaelike franchise hotel a me nā kuleana kākoʻo litigation. ʻO nā mea kūʻai aku nā mea hōkele, nā mea hoʻopukapuka a me nā ʻoihana hōʻaiʻē. ʻO kāna puke hou ʻo "Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt a me Oscar o ka Waldorf."
He aha e lawe ʻia mai kēia ʻatikala:
- From 1847 when the enterprising Willard brothers, Henry and Edwin, first set up as innkeepers on the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Willard has occupied a unique niche in the history of Washington and the nation.
- Half of this project involves the respectful restoration of Washington’s greatest hotel building, a distinguished Beaux-Arts structure by Henry Hardenbergh that had been derelict since 1968, a victim of the decline of its neighborhood, a few blocks east of the White House.
- American author Nathaniel Hawthorne observed in the 1860s that “the Willard Hotel more justly could be called the center of Washington than either the Capitol or the White House or the State Department.
