A refined departure from the cookie-cutter chain hotels, The Line DC is the perfect destination for business travellers looking to get a sense of the city, discovers Nick Walton.
If you’re planning to take advantage of Cathay Pacific’s direct services between Hong Kong and Washington D.C. then you’ll need somewhere in the capital to rest your head. That place should be Line DC, the city’s coolest house of slumber. As business travellers will know, there are ‘cool’ hotels, many of which fall flat when tested, and then there are hotels that just naturally ooze culture, intelligence and intuitiveness. The Line DC is the latter.
Located in the eclectic Adams Morgan neighbourhood, a short Uber from the memorials and monuments of the capital, Line DC is a boutique hotel where the focus isn’t so much on the guest rooms but on the overall experience, for both guests and locals looking to soak up the vibe. Combining art, cuisine, culture, community and accommodation, the hotel is perfect for business travellers hoping to get a sense of the city beyond the boardroom and airport concourse.
Art in Motion
Housed within a century-old Neoclassical church, the hotel, which has a sibling property in LA, is as much a communal working space and dining hotspot as it is a conventional city hotel. Guests make their way up stone stairs and between towering columns to enter a vaulted lobby, the church’s nave, in which Millennial digital nomads hunch over laptops and single-origin espressos at lounges and communal tables. Above, the ambience is bolstered by a vibrant restaurant situated on the mezzanine while, to one side, within the glass confines of Full Service Radio, a community radio station, presenters discuss local issues and explore an extensive library of well-loved LPs.
Full Service Radio
Everywhere you look there’s art and inspiration, from hymn boards that now direct new arrivals to the elevators, to the mesmerising chandelier, crafted from the gleaming brass pipes of the church’s organ, which catches the light through double-height stained milk glass arches.
As you can imagine, art plays a big role here too, with over 3,000 pieces spread across the hotel making it as much a living gallery as it is a place to catch some sleep. From photography by Chris Chen and Jared Soares; and both form and function sculptures by Kathryn Zaremba, Craig Kraft and Casey Johnson; to murals by Rose Jaffe, monograph prints by Andrew Breitenberg, and original sketches by Svetlana Legetic, art is infused into every space, every reflection, every moment. Keep an eye out for the towering mirror at the entry to A Rake’s Progress, which is regularly reinterpreted as part of a revolving artist residency.
Rooms to Live In
Despite the many historical elements of the lobby, the 220 rooms and suites at Line DC are distinctly more modern. However, forget the images the word ‘modern’ may conjure up – rooms at Line DC are thought-fully appointed and still blissfully residential and it’s very easy to be lulled into the belief that you’re staying in your own chic DC apartment rather than a hotel room.
This is especially so with spaces like the 750sqft Apartment Suite, a truly breathtaking space complete with a separate living room and guest bathroom, city views, a dining table and lounge, a deep soak tub in the bathroom and a wet bar stocked with local libations that makes you want to stay in and host a dinner party for local clients and colleagues.
No matter which guest room category you’re in (and all rooms are unique), you’ll find the same attention to detail, from HD televisions (playing live broadcasts from Full Service Radio when you check-in) and curated mini-libraries of timeless classics (my room has a crime theme) to luxurious linens on the bed, furnishings sourced from local antique stores, and modern touches like Nespresso machines, docking stations and lightning-fast internet.
A Local Dining Destination
Dining at Line DC is a study in regionality and seasonality. The hotel is home to three restaurants, two bars and The Cup We All Race 4, a coffee shop that is as popular with locals looking to sip lattes and much on Amanda Cook-baked goodies on the stone stairs beyond as it is with corporate travellers grabbing a bite before heading out to meetings.
The highlight, however, is James Beard award-winning chef Spike Gjerde’s A Rake’s Progress, the restaurant that occupies the mezzanine above the hotel’s lobby. In an age of food miles and artisanal production, A Rake’s Progress takes things to a whole never level, with ingredients sourced from ‘Mid-Atlantic’ farms and waters – think New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland – wherever possible. Gjerde first pioneered this region-specific approach at Woodberry Kitchen, his restaurant in Baltimore, and the mantra continues at A Rake’s Progress, where executive chef Opie Crooks serves rustic dishes like cavatelli bolognese with grilled rapini, smoked cheese, and breadcrumbs; silky beef tartar with pickles, onions, and zesty tomato jam; pork blade steaks with barbequed sorghum and beans; and fried quail with hakurei turnips, and Carolina gold rice in a glorious dining room with soaring ceilings.
You’ll also find delectable American comfort food, from potato rostis with salted cod to hanger steaks with chimichurri, at Brothers & Sisters, the lobby level east-meets-west concept by Erik Bruner-Yang that’s led by Todd Thrasher and Pichet Ong. Serving meals throughout the day, this electric eatery is also all about seasonality, and is the source of much of the addictive vibe you’ll first encounter when arriving at the hotel.
Brothers & Sisters
Finally, you can’t leave The Line DC without visiting Spoken English, a tiny Tachinomiya-styled hole-in-the-wall by Erik Bruner-Yang that’s dedicated to bringing back the art of dinner conversation. The standing-room-only Asian street food eatery is a combination of a chef’s table and a dinner party, with guests rubbing shoulders (literally) with locals over chicken skin dumplings, roast duck and boutique sakes. Chances are you’ve never experienced anything quite like it.
You’ll Also Drink Well
Locals will testify that The Line DC is as much a destination for drinks as it is for a night under the covers. At the A Rake’s Bar, Corey Polyoka showcases drops from a handful of DC craft distillers, as well as many housemade additions ranging from housemade vinegar, used in lieu of citrus, to verjus, a tart pressed grape juice, in his hyper-seasonal drinks menu.
Highlights include Ain’t She Sweet, with Kopper Kettle vodka, strawberry, rosé, and strawberry-rhubarb foam; Hearth & Home, a heady blend of Catoctin Creek brandy, amaro, black walnut bitters, and burnt sorghum; and, from the Rakehouse, a series of private barrel spirits exclusive to A Rake’s Progress, the soul-warming Death’s Door wheat whiskey, aged for five years in a 1978 rum barrel.
If you can keep a hand free, Spoken English also does some innovative concoctions, ranging from I Am Very hot & Sexy, with mala spice-infused Espolon tequila with lemon and grapefruit; to highballs laced with Toki whiskey.
A Place to Meet
The Line DC is also a great departure from chain hotels for meeting planners, with 10,000sqft of event space, ranging from an elegant rooftop terrace, to a sophisticated ballroom and breakout spaces. The hotel caters to events for up to 500 people, with a dedicated meetings team on hand to ensure that local touch.
The Line DC, 1770 Euclid Street NW, Washington, D.C. United States; Tel: +1 202 588 0525
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