Everything about The Watergate Complex totally explained
The
Watergate complex is an office-apartment-hotel complex built in 1967 in
northwest Washington, D.C., best known for being the site of burglaries that led to the
Watergate scandal and the resignation of
President Richard Nixon.
Location
The Watergate complex is a
superblock bounded on the north by
Virginia Avenue, on the east by
New Hampshire Avenue, on the south by F Street, and on the west by the
Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. It is in the
Foggy Bottom neighborhood overlooking the
Potomac River, adjacent to the
Kennedy Center and the embassy of
Saudi Arabia. The nearest
Metro station is
Foggy Bottom-GWU.
History
The Watergate complex was developed by the
Italian firm
Società Generale Immobiliare, which purchased the 10 acres which constitute the plot of land on the defunct
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the early
1960s for 10 million US Dollars. Italian architect
Luigi Moretti designed the six buildings on the site: a hotel, two office buildings, three apartment buildings and a retail center. The name of the complex was derived from the terraced step area to the north of the
Lincoln Memorial that leads down to the
Potomac River. The steps used to face a floating performance stage on the Potomac River, creating an
amphitheater. This area was originally planned as the official reception area for all dignitaries arriving in Washington, D.C. by water.
Individual buildings at the Watergate
The Watergate Hotel is located at 2650 Virginia Avenue NW. It has 250 guest rooms and 146 suites. In
2004, the hotel was purchased by a company planning to turn it into luxury
co-ops. The hotel closed on August 1, 2007 for a $170 million 18-month renovation.
The two Watergate Office Buildings are at 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW and 2600 Virginia Avenue NW. In 1972, the
Democratic National Committee had its headquarters on the sixth floor of the 11-story 2600 Virginia Avenue building. On May 28, 1972, a team of burglars working for Nixon's re-election campaign put wiretaps and took photos in and near the DNC chairman's office. The wiretaps were monitored from rooms at the Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge hotel across the street at 2601 Virginia Avenue NW. (The hotel is now owned by
The George Washington University. It is used as a dormitory for graduate students, and is known on campus as "HOVA", or "Hall on Virginia Avenue".) During a second burglary on June 17, 1972, to replace a malfunctioning "bug" and collect more information, five burglars were arrested and the
Watergate scandal began to unfold.
The Watergate Office Building was sold in 2005 by Trizec Properties to BentleyForbes, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm run by C. Frederick Wehba, for $86.5 million. The complex, consisting of the buildings at 2500, 2600, and 2650 Virginia Ave. NW and 600 and 700 New Hampshire Ave. NW, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places on
October 21,
2005.
The three Watergate Apartment buildings total some 600 residential units. Past occupants have included
Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
Bob and
Elizabeth Dole,
Monica Lewinsky,
Betty Currie,
Ben Stein,
Clare Boothe Luce, and
Paul O'Neill. Current
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice now lives in the Watergate.
There is a small (63,000 sq. ft. / 5900 m²) retail center which offers a
Safeway supermarket in the basement level and several upscale shops and restaurants at street level.
Further Information
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