Manufacturer: Greenwood Pottery
User: Hotel Normandie, also known as La Normandie
Distributor: Chas. B. Edwards & Co., Philadelphia
Date of butter pat: Unknown
Notes: The Hotel Normandie, also widely referred to as La Normandie, was owned by La Normandie Hotel Co. It was sited at the northeast corner of 15th and I streets N.W. in Washington, D.C., opposite McPherson Square. On the back of the postcard (shown below) is the text: "The Normandie. Located in the most fashionable part of the city and within five minutes' walk of the Executive Mansion, Treasury, State, War and Navy Departments."
Date of construction is not known, but it was open as early as 1890, when Elmer F. Woodbury was the proprietor. It was still running ads in The Washington Post in 1912, but on May 27, 1912, its furnishings and equipment were sold at a public auction.
In the same building, the Bellevue Hotel opened by at least 1915 and would have been the first location in the District for that hotel.
The date of the butter pat is unknown. Greenwood Pottery was in business from 1868 to circa 1933. Chas. B. Edwards & Co. – the pat's distributor – was in business during the 1800s and into the 20th century and was so named until the death of its founder in 1908. Therefore, this china could have been produced at any point in the hotel's history, shy of its last four years in existence.
The green-lined china is decorated with a crest, also in green, that includes a rampant lion within a shield. Open fabric drapery is held by crossed spears behind the shield. There is a crown above the fabric. Below, in all caps, are the words HOTEL NORMANDIE.
For more info:
Normandie Hotel 2 by Maddock
Sources:
The Daily Washington Law Reporter, Vol. 40
Hotel Red Books
The Washington Post
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Vols. 69-71
Photos contributed by Susan Phillips
Photo from Normandie booklet contributed by eBay seller ghost-train65
Postcard contributed by CardCow.com