The Fairfax at Embassy Row (opened as The Fairfax Hotel) was a historic luxury hotel at 2100 Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It opened in 1927 and operated under various owners and names until closing permanently in 2021. It reopened in 2025 as a retirement home. The Fairfax is designated as a contributing property to the Dupont Circle Historic District and the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District.
History
Built on the site of a house built by Brainard Warner, the Washington financier and real-estate developer who created Kensington, Maryland, The Fairfax Hotel was designed by architect B. Stanley Simmons and opened in 1927.
In 1932, it was purchased by Colonel H. Grady Gore and his wife Jamie.[1] It operated as a combination transient/residential hotel and was the home of numerous government figures. Famous residents included Mrs. Henry Cabot Lodge, Admiral and Mrs. Chester William Nimitz, and Senator John L. McClellan.[1] Future President George H. W. Bush and his parents, Senator and Mrs. Prescott Bush, lived at The Fairfax when in Washington. Future Vice President Al Gore's family lived in the three-bedroom suite on the hotel's top floor for a total of twenty years during his youth.