Riggs National Bank built its flagship headquarters at 900 F Street NW in 1891, commissioning James G. Hill to design a Richardsonian Romanesque block of rusticated granite whose arched windows and corbelled cornice made it one of the most architecturally imposing addresses in Penn Quarter. The bank that once held Abraham Lincoln's personal account and financed the purchase of Alaska operated here for over a century before closing its doors — leaving behind one of Washington's great commercial interiors, which Lore Group converted into Riggs Washington DC in 2020, with interiors by Roman and Williams. Roman and Williams, the New York studio behind the Ace Hotel New York, brought their characteristic layering of historical register and contemporary ease to 181 rooms dressed in terracotta-washed walls, swirling botanical headboards upholstered in floral velvet, studded steamer-trunk minibars, and geometric Greek-key rugs in burnt orange. The lobby preserves its original coffered plasterwork ceiling and fluted columns, now grounded by a deep-blue geometric carpet and a brass-framed reception desk centered beneath a station clock. The ground-floor bar — called P.C.H. — makes the most compelling argument for the renovation: green-veined marble columns, antiqued mirror arches behind a brass back bar, and oxblood leather barstools arranged along a white marble counter, the whole room carrying the atmosphere of a Gilded Age financial institution that has decided, finally, to have a very good time.

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Constructed in 1891 as a headquarters for Riggs National Bank, the landmark example of Richardson Romanesque architecture was known as the Bank of Presidents, and resides at the intersection not just of 9th and F Street, but of American history.