QUICK TRIPS

QUICK TRIPS On the MONEY

The former “Bank of Presidents” is reinvented as a hotel whose currency is design

By Daphne Nikolopoulos

Glimpses of the Riggs Washington DC hotel, clockwise from top left: The Silver Lyan cocktail bar; the lobby; Café Riggs; the Riggs Suite; a First Lady Suite; Ceres Joker cocktails.

Think “bank” and a few images come to mind: vaults, coffered ceilings, teller cages, and acres of dark wood. It’s the design aesthetic of old money, and it’s given even more gravitas when the clients are U.S. presidents.

Such is the history of the Riggs Washington DC hotel (riggsdc.com), housed in the 1891 landmarked building that was once home to the capitol’s Riggs National Bank, which handled the finances of 23 presidents. This illustrious heritage did not go unnoted by Lore Group creative director Jacu Strauss, who helmed the property’s reimagining. Strauss preserved many of the original features of the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival building—one of few remaining in the city—including the iconic barrelvaulted lobby and coffered ceilings.

Nods to the building’s past life are everywhere: a reception area recalls a teller window; decorative safes house minibars and, well, safes; and a giant medallion of the Goddess of Money looms in the lobby. One can even strike cocktail gold in the original bank vault, now transformed into subterranean bar Silver Lyan (silverlyan.com), undoubtedly one of Riggs’ high points.

Mr Lyan (real name Ryan Chetiyawardana), of White Lyan and Dandelyan in London, has to be one of the most creative mixologists on the planet. Mr Lyan interprets a place’s history and culture into concoctions that have to be sipped to be believed. An example: While you wait for your Ceres Joker, the server brings you a masked-bear figurine holding a helium balloon. The bear sways creepily until the Macallan- and sloe gin–based cocktail arrives. The server sets the string alight and the balloon detonates, releasing the scent of gunpowder into the drink. There are less dramatic ways to deliver a smoky cocktail, but where’s the fun in that?

Riggs’ 181 guest rooms are modern interpretations of the early-twentieth-century style that informed the original building. The suites are inspired by first ladies, an inspiration that came to Strauss following a private tour of the White House. “I chose four lesserknown first ladies, but each had strong minds with regards to the atmosphere and culture they wanted to create in the White House,” he says. “I tapped into these legacies in an abstract way, to avoid creating a museum-like interior.”

Like all interiors, it’s the small details that, when taken together, make a big statement. For instance, Strauss created “trophy cabinets” in Silver Lyan, displaying trophies women have received for such quirky things as a tractor-driving competition. He reiterated the building’s heritage through framed checks from Riggs National Bank (some more than 120 years old), which he’d collected over the years and installed on the wall behind the reception desk.

“ R i g g s c a m e w i t h a r i c h h i s t o r y f r o m i t s t i m e a s a b a n k d u r i n g t h e g o l d e n a g e s a n d t h e a r c h i t e c t u r a l e x p r e s s i o n t h a t c a m e w i t h i t , ” S t r a u s s s a y s . “ I w a n t e d t o c o n t r a s t t h i s w i t h a s p e c t s t h a t w e r e m o r e p l a y f u l [ a n d ] s u r p r i s i n g m o m e n t s t h r o u g h o u t t h e h o t e l . ” «