The Old Brick Capitol

Blodget's Hotel

(The national capital, past and present, by Hutchins and Moore, 1885 )

Blodget's Hotel, more properly named The Union Public Hotel, sat on E Street in Northwest Washington, between 7th and 8th Streets. Mr. D. B. Warden in 1815 described this red brick and free-stone building as "three stories high. 120 by 60 feet ... ornamented with a pediment and six Ionic pilasters. From the eminence, the shape of a tortoise shell, on which it stands the richly wooded hills rise on every side and form a scenery unequaled in beauty in America." (A. C. Harmon)