The tall red brick smokestack is the signature feature of the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, Washington D.C.
The Georgetown incinerator was a weed-covered urban wasteland on the waterfront in 1999 when Architect Gary Edward Handel + Associates and Associate architect Shalom Baranes & Associates financed by Millennium Partners and Eastbanc developed a mixed-use hotel, movie theater and residential complex.
The Ritz Carlton hotel is located on a square block across the street from the waterfront of the Potomac River and adjacent to Highway 29, aka Whitehurst Freeway, an elevated roadway about 100 feet from some of the Ritz-Carlton hotel rooms. The road traffic is one of the drawbacks of the location. This area is still in development and the elevated roadway traffic makes the waterfront a less than serene location.
Rosslyn, Virginia (another popular hotel district) is seen from corner of K Street and Wisconsin Avenue at Loews Theater complex which sits below the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown hotel. There are some benches in the waterfront park development below the elevated freeway.
The entrance to Ritz Carlton Georgetown is located one block up on South Street.
    “The problem of leisure,Â
      What to do for pleasure” –
           “Natural’s Not In It“ - Gang of Four
The lobby looked comfortable in a casually formal kind of way. The place has modern touches.
Rates average around $400 per night and the hotel reward category is Tier 3 at 50,000 points per night.
“This heaven gives me migraine.” – Gang of Four
This post is not meant to reflect negatively on Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, Washington, D.C. This is not a hotel review. More a location review.
Really I think the hotel is a lovely looking hotel inside.
This post is inspired by the new album of 70s punk band Gang of Four that is back at it again in another type of modern revival. United Airlines has the song ‘Natural’s Not In It’ playing on a new wave soundtrack this month of February 2011.
How the times have changed from 1979 when I can hear Gang of Four in popular culture and not just in San Francisco.
