Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-06
RAz|NG Of EBB|TT
HOTEL IS BEGUN
Ceremony Marks Beginning
of Wrecking of Historic
Old Structure.

The razing of the historic Ebbitt
Hotel began today in the presence
/ of several hundred people and amid
ceremony unusual in an instance
Of tins kind.
In the place of the old hotel. long
identified with the National Capital,
will be built magnificent 100000 900
office and theater building by the Ma
.ional Press Club as a monument to
American journalism.
Not only will the Ebbitt Building
vanish. but also the old Hooe Iron
Building. the first iron structure built
here and one of the first erected in
this country. In between these two
structures stands a small brick build
ing. which will also disappear. 1t was
at one time Aaron's Burrs law office.
Ceremony Marks Work.
Inside of the roped area were as
sembled Commissioner Fenning, Com
missioner Bell, John Hays hammond
John Joy Edison, Henry l.. Sweinhart,
president of the Press Club: James
w. Bryan, chairman of the executive
committee in charge of the erection
Of the building for the club. and scores
OF well known newspaper men. Sur
rounding this group were zoo work
men with picks and shovels ready
buildings.
Commissioner Fenning took the
marker of the Columbia Historical So
ciety indicating the Ebbitr WAS once
the home of the late President NC
kinley and presented il To Mr.. Swein-
hart. Mr.. Sweinhart demolished sew
eral bricks a the corner OF the Ebb1tt
with a gilded pick and presented one
OF the bricks TO Uric Eell president
elect of the Press club. The brick
will be retained by the club as
souvenir.
The building to be erected on the
site of the Ebbitt and the other struc-
lures will be the realization of the
dream of the National Press Club
since its founding. in 1905. The Press
Club was first housed in small quar-
ters above a jewelry store at 1905 +
street Later il moved IL quarters
over a drug store at Fifteenth and
=. moving in 1914 TO its present quar-
tiers in the Albee Building. In a little
over a year the club homes TO move
into its own building. which will be
one of the biggest erected in The Ma
tional Capital.
The Sydney l.. Heckinger Co. will
keep 200 men at work on the raZing
of the buildings day and night in or
der that it may be completely de-
.molished by March Is. owing to the
age of the buildings. II Is expected
that the wrecking will entail consid-
cradle work. 1t is the largest job if
its kind ever undertaken in Wash
ington.
The members of the temporary hold.
ing corporation. in charge of the af-
fair for the Press Club, are: Messrs.
Edison, Hammond. Sweetheart. Bryan
a N IF tIa
torate of the orga niZation placed in
charge of the project for the Press
Club are: Secretary of Commerce
Hoover. Assistant Attorney General
Donovan, James Wright Brown, presi-
dent OF the Editor and Publisher; Ste
phen T. Mather. director of the Ma
tional Park Service; David Lawrence.
president of the Consolidated Press,
Gilbert Grosvenor, president Of the Ma
tional Geographic Society: J. Fred Es-
sary. London correspondent of the Bal
timore Sun: Carter Field. ex-president
of the Press Club, and other newspa-
per men. including A. n. kirchofer
Paul Wooton, Uric Bell. Homer } .
Dodge. Robert Barry, Arthur s. Hen
ming. Avery c. Marks. jr.: Edward B.
Mclean, Frederic J. Haskins. George
L. Holmes, Gene Buck and Thomas r.
Ship. Robert \. Harper. president of
lott II. Goodwin, resident vice presi-
dent Of the Chamber of Commerce of
the United States, are also on the
board
Hotel Was Landmark.
The Ebhitt Hotel has been a la nd
mark in Washington for three quarters
Of a century and was a nationally
known hosiery. 1t was started as
boarding house by the Ebhitt fam
lily many years prior 10 the Civil
War. and the building as II now
stands is the result of a number of
additions and improvements to the
old boarding house of the sos"
Shortly after the Civil War it was
purchased by Caleb Willard, who Ian
it AS n hotel. Later 1t was purchased
by the Du Pont family and few
years ago was sold to Stormfeltz &
Lovely of Detroit. The building was
closed as a hotel on May Is last. when
the Ebbitt Hotel Co. and the owners
failed to come to terms on the aues
ton of a new lease. The National
Press Club during the Summer an
nounced that 1t would build a $1O,-
900, 900 building on the site and placed
an option on the property, which re-
suited in the complete purchase and
transfer of the Ebbitt site and the
Hooe Building from the Detroit firm
TO the holding corpora ton for the Ma
tional Press Club 10 days ago.
The Ebbitt Hotel was the stamping
ground Of many distinguished figures
in the political and military history
Of the country. 1t was also a well
known meeting place for Journalistic
representing most of the large papers
Of the country in Wa shington. Among
the famous men who STAYED at the
hotel were Gen. Sherman, Gen. Han.
cock Of Civil War fame. Gen. Custer
the famous Indian fighter: President
Mckinley, Chief Justice TAFT and
many others. 1t was the local Hard
ing presidential campaign headquar-
tiers. and 1t was at the Ebbitt Hotel
that Obregon formulated his politica Al
policies that resulted in the coup
which made him President of Mexico
m ~ nrY7 rY4~ ~-xxx~--