The world's most scandalous suite? Washington DC's infamous Watergate Hotel embraces its dark side
It is one of the immutable facts of life that notorious incidents tend, eventually, to become a source of tourist visits and price tags.
Cliveden House has long dined off its association with the Profumo Affair, the sex-shame titillation which threatened a government in 1961. The Courthouse Hotel in central London is happy to promote the fact that it was once the Marlborough Street Magistrates Court - and, as such, hosted the headline-making trials of Mick Jagger and John Lennon in 1969 and 1970 respectively, as hysteria about the counterculture movement surged. Take a trip to this five-star hideaway where Soho meets Mayfair and you can sit down for cocktails at tables set in the old holding cells.
Of course, the Watergate scandal was a little more serious than a minister who had a liking for coquettish London girls in swimming pools, a Rolling Stone being hounded on drugs charges, or a Beatle being castigated as some sort of sacrificial lamb for the establishment's outrage at a changing world.
It was a chapter of rank skulduggery which brought down a US president, caused serious questions about the workings of the American political system, provoked one of the greatest ever examples of investigative journalism, proved the crucial role of an independent and inquisitive media in the workings of a democracy (whatever the current incumbent of the White House thinks about this - or precisely because he questions this fundamental truth), and gave rise to the tedious use of the "-gate" suffix in just about every eyebrow-raising matter touching on a celebrity or public figure in the subsequent five decades.
But even Watergate, now that it is 45 years into the pages of history, has now been distilled into a luxury hotel suite. For the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on the night of June 17 1972, and the fall of Richard Nixon on August 9 1974, read room rates in 2017 of US$800 (£607) and decor crafted by people behind one of the biggest television series of recent years.
But then, why not? Watergate was an earthquake whose tremors were felt across the planet. It was a touchstone of the 20th century. It was inevitable that, at some point, someone would turn it into a money-maker.
And so it has proved.
This is the news that the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC has just unveiled what it is calling "The Watergate Scandal Room 214".
As descriptions go, this is pretty apt. For it was in this very space that two undercover operatives - the former CIA agent Everette Hunt Jr and the lawyer George Liddy - coordinated the infamous burglary of the DNC base, in the adjacent Watergate Office Building. Hooked up to radios and microphones, Hunt Jr and Liddy were there to direct the light-fingered efforts of the five burglars just across the way, urging them to search carefully for campaign secrets of the opposition which might help President Nixon's re-election bid. The break-in was, of course, discovered, and the consequences would go to the top.
Fast forward 45 years, and the room has been converted into a celebration of its own disrepute. In fact, it has fully embraced its dark side.
In a case of life imitating art, it has been reimagined by Lyn Paolo, the costume designer on Scandal - the recent hit television series which revels in the machinations and under-workings of Washington DC.
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Walk across its threshold and you effectively step back into the early Seventies and into the Watergate shadows via clever stylistic flourishes - furniture redolent of the era (blocky red-leather sofa and black armchair), an old-fashioned tape-reel recording device, an antique typewriter, a pair of binoculars, a vinyl record player. A wall of framed newspaper clippings trawls back through the story as it subsequently broke. All you need is the fug of cigarette smoke (though this is very much discouraged), the cheap suits and the overpowering aftershave, and the best part of half a century will tumble away.
"I am a huge political junkie, and the thought of actually getting to stand in Room 214 of the Watergate was a huge thrill," Paolo - who won two Emmy awards for her work on Nineties American television series Homefront, and was also part of the team which produced The West Wing - told The Architectural Digestin an interview last week. "The fact that it is the 45th anniversary of the break-in only added to my excitement."
"As a design experience, it was so out of the ordinary for me as a costume designer," she continued. "I loved the challenge."
This forthright ownership of its chequered history is a change of stance for the Watergate Hotel, which has not always been so keen to talk about the past. Indeed, if you have ever visited the Watergate complex as a whole, you may have happened on the impression that it would rather forget the whole episode.
It sits on the banks of the River Potomac, a mile and a half west of the White House. Gaze at the up buildings stationed here (which include some of the American capital's most expensive residential properties), their windows seeming mirrored and aloof in the afternoon light, and it is easy to conclude that the place wants to escape its connection to Richard Nixon and his underhand dealings. Immediately next door, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stands as Washington's key symphony hall - while, directly to the west in the middle of the river, Theodore Roosevelt Island is one of the city's loveliest green spaces. These two former commanders in chief, you might assume, are the presidential company Watergate would prefer to keep - JFK and beloved Teddy, not Tricky Dicky.
This stance, though, has changed with the hotel's revival. It was launched in 1957, and, by the turn of the millennium, was badly in need of an overhaul. It closed in August 2007 for a renovation which was meant to take 18 months - but would remain shut for nine years. There were times in this near-decade when its ever reopening seemed unlikely.
If its reemergence last year after a transformation that has been put at US$200million (£151million) was a welcome development, its new love for its dubious legacy has been a surprise. Room keycards now bear the tongue-in-cheek inscription "no need to break in". The main phone number - 001-844-617-1972 - is an unabashed reference to the date of the scandal. Head to an upper floor and the lift plays not tinny music but a selection of Richard Nixon's speeches. As about-turns go, this is a 180-degree swivel.
"So much of our history and American culture was defined by that space [Watergate]," Paolo added. "Our vision was to transport the guest back in time".
Whether the hoteliers of 20 years' time will want to grasp the nettle of the current era in Washington DC remains to be seen - but you suspect there may be a story or two to work with.
More information
thewatergatehotel.com; washington.org; capitalregionusa.co.uk
