Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-25
NEW POTOMAC HOTEL
Will Be a Modern Palace in
Every Particular.
READY BY SEPT. l, 1904
OCCUPY SITE OF RICHMOND TO BE
TORN DOWN.
Will Have Four Hundred Rooms for
Guests-Complete Refrigerat-
ing and Ice Plant.
READY BY SEPT. l, 1904

In the rapid evolution of Washington as
a city, first, Oh the lines of beauty and art;
next, as model city in general construc-
ton, and, finally, in superiority of archi-
lecture nothing has been more gratifying
to its own people and to the people of the
country at large than the remarkable de-
velopments of business and commercial
character in the last few years.
For many years this was looked upon
merely as a political center and city of
pleasure, with little hope or ambition either
in a commercial or business sense, but in
the great tide of prosperity which has
swept over the United States, and which
has been even more apparent in the cities
than in the country or agricultural dis
tricts, during which time cities have dou-
bled their population and wealth with leaps
and bounds, Washington also has felt the
new impulse and been gradually attracting
the attention of business capital, as well as
the admiration and approval of people of
liberal means seeking the most pleasant
homes possible in America. The pages of
The Evening Star nave been faithful chron-
icles of the gratifying progress made on
these lines.
For many years one of the popular COM
plants of this city was in regard to its
insufficient hotel accommodations, the an
swer to which always was that Washing
ton being city to which people only came
during the winter season 1t was not posi-
BILE to maintain hotel of the highest char
acter and greatest success such as obtained
in the cities where the hotels could do
profitable business the year around. But
as we are proving that business can find
footing and profit here on a larger scale, as
we are yearly proving that we have the
most desirable residence city in the coun-
try and are yearly attracting more and
more of the choicest people and gaining
them as residents here, so have we been
rnS-in NV tha of ma
that we have come to be looked upon by
capital as a favored field of investment in
this line.
Departure in Modern Life.
This comes not only from the constantly
rapid growth of Washington, but also from
the departure in modern American life of
people of means to live on country places
in the summer and in cities and hotels in
the winter. In this respect Washington as
a city, from it's very location on the border
of the south, from it's constant events of
the greatest interest in national affairs and
from it's nearness to the greatest cities
and the seaboard. is without rival of at
traction to those who have adopted the
country for the summer and the city for
the winter.
Capital, always quick to see new
field of investment, has discovered this OPP
portunity: and this is one of the eXplana-
tons why so many palatial hotels are being
erected in New York and the other large
cities constantly, to the surprise of the
public. and now why it Is turning to the
favored spot of all, or the city of Washing
ton, to erect a magnificent hotel which
shall be beautiful in itself and complete in
every appointment. .rE-
p The great new structure, an excellent pic
ture of which accompanies this article
to be called the Hotel Potomac, to be
erected on the site of the present Hotel
Richmond at 18th and H streets, is a
most desirable location in one of the fash
ionable sections of the city.
The building is to be nine stories high,
and have frontage of 2O6 feet on 18th
street, 100 feet on H street, extending to
fifteen-foot alley with an outlet on 18th
and H streets, thus giving light on all sides
and affordng an unusual number of rooms
with southern and eastern exposures. 1t
is to be noble in all it's proportions and
graceful in all it's outlines, and will be one