The Hay Adams

Washington DC · USA · Cemetery

Built in 1927 on the site of Henry Adams's mansion. His wife Marian, called Clover, was found dead in front of the fireplace in 1885.

The hotel on Lafayette Square in Washington was built in 1927 on the site of the mansion that belonged to Henry Adams, the historian and presidential adviser, in the 1880s.

His wife was Marian Hooper Adams, known as Clover, a gifted photographer and one of the most admired women in Washington society. In 1885 she was found dead in front of the fireplace in that house. She had drunk potassium cyanide, one of the chemicals she used to develop her photographs, in the months after her father's death.

Her husband never spoke of it publicly again and commissioned the memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery that is still one of the most affecting sculptures in America.

At the hotel, her presence is described throughout the building. On the eighth floor staff and guests report the scent of mimosa in the air at night.

Clover Adams was a real person and her death is documented. She deserves better than to be a hotel anecdote.

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Wo befindet sich The Hay Adams?

The Hay Adams liegt in Washington DC, USA.