What makes The Jefferson, Washington, DC different from other hotels?
Historic touches representing Thomas Jefferson, custom cocktails and Plume — the hotel's fine dining restaurant — make The Jefferson, Washington, D.C. stand apart from other hotels near Capitol Hill.
The 2009 redesign and re-opening of this Four-Star hotel just north of the White House was inspired by the life, thoughts and history of Thomas Jefferson, and design highlights throughout reflect this lineage. In the lobby, a gallery of historical documents — bearing Jefferson's signature and hung in wide golden frames — presents a mini museum of sorts that creeps into every corner of the hotel.
In the guest rooms, you'll find curtains and pillows printed with schematics and images of the former president's Virginia estate, Monticello. You won't find this fabric at local stores, though: It's been specially licensed to the hotel by Jefferson's estate. Images of Monticello also adorn the walls of Plume, the fine dining restaurant at The Jefferson. Bathed in hues of light gray and yellow, the space is covered with wallpaper depicting Monticello that was painted especially for the hotel on a single piece of silk and cut to fit the room at Plume.
Jeffersonian touches are apparent at each table, with small silver birds representing the president's love of the creatures, but nowhere has he influenced the design more than at Table 10 — the restaurant's best. Known as "The Nest," this semicircular booth is set into the wall in a curtained-off, curved library. The table sits beneath an enormous crystal chandelier that was once at the nearby Willard InterContinental Washington hotel, a favorite of past presidents in the weeks before their inaugurations. A seat at this romantic spot is tough to come by: Plan to make reservations for it at least two months in advance.
At Quill, The Jefferson’s bar, you can have something so new it's never been experienced before: your own custom cocktail created on the spot by the bar staff. For a few dollars more than you'll pay for one of the house offerings, your Quill bartender will create a customized Mastermind cocktail. With just the knowledge that we liked ginger, our bartender concocted a deliciously tangy mixture of ginger liqueur, Cointreau, dark rum from Martinique, bitters and fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
