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"Nearing its 100th birthday, the aging 318-room art deco hotel is receiving a months-long, Rockefeller-inspired makeover that aims to recapture its midcentury reputation as a D.C. hotspot and inaugural-ball host; when the renovation wraps up next spring it will reemerge with a new library-themed lobby bar, a modernized lobby that preserves its beaux-arts bones while adding pops of color, velvet, marble and wood detailing, and a refreshed restaurant featuring Italian fare. The to-be-named lobby bar, open daily for happy hour, pays homage to the hotel's Prohibition-era architect Jules-Henrí de Sibour (born in France and an early member of Yale’s Skull and Bones), and some changes will appear as early as this fall, including a Newseum-inspired suite dubbed “The Newsroom” that honors Alexander Hamilton and will feature a daily gallery of front-page news from more than 800 international newspapers on iPads and rotating interiors tied to Newseum exhibits such as Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement. Other incoming amenities include pricey Peloton bikes in the gym and wellness and beauty kits from Jet Set." - Tierney Plumb