Manufacturers: Scammell China; Wm. Guerin & Co. Limoges, France; and Bauscher Brothers
Distributor for Wm. Guerin & Co.: Dulin & Martin Co., Washington, D.C.
User: Raleigh Hotel
Date of matchstand: 1928 – 1930
Date of plate: circa 1891 – 1932
Date of service plate: 1914
Notes: Originally built in 1876, the Raleigh Hotel — located at 12th St. N.W. and the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. — opened as an office building in 1893.
Several hotels dating back to the 1820s were located on the site of the Raleigh Hotel, including the Fountain Inn, Fuller's and the Irving House. The Irving House later changed its name to the Kirkwood Hotel, and then became the Kirkwood House in 1853.
Vice President Andrew Johnson was living at the Kirkwood House when President Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. Johnson was sworn in as president at the Kirkwood House the morning after the assassination.
In 1876, the Kirkwood House was replaced by the Alexander Shepherd's Centennial Building, named after prominent citizen Alexander "Boss" Robey Shepherd of the District of Columbia.
In 1893, the Centennial Building was converted into the Raleigh Hotel, with subsequent hotel additions built in 1898 and 1905. The hotel had 300 rooms with 100 baths in 1904.
In 1911, leading architect Henry J. Hardenberg, designed a Beaux-Arts style 13-story building to replace the original 1876 structure. The new structure was enlarged in 1917.
According to a 1920s postcard, the Raleigh Hotel advertised "450 beautiful rooms with baths in the heart of Washington. You'll enjoy modern living and service at the Raleigh." By 1931, the hotel had 475 rooms with 319 baths and expanded to 500 rooms in 1962.
The hotel was razed in 1966 to make way for a postmodern high-rise skyscraper in 1967; and in 2009, 1111 Pennsylvania Ave. is again a commercial office building.
Sources:
On This Spot: Pinpointing the Past in Washington, D.C. by Douglas E. Evelyn and Paul Dickson; Capital Travel; Page 75.
Larry Paul's 20th Century Hotel Research Database
Emporis.com
Matchstand: Lamberton China white body, oval base match stand. Coin gold band and red line on rim, green wreath with red ribbon, and a boar's head.
Plate: White body with gold and red rim pinstripes; crest is a boar's head inside a green leafed wreath, tied with a red ribbon.
Service plate: White body, gold and red lines, crest is a boar's head inside a green leafed wreath, tied with a red ribbon. Center image of Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition 1584 was an original painting reproduced for the service plate. Backstamped in ink as well as with an impressed Bauscher backstamp and numbers "14" and "27", "14" being year of manufacture and "27" referring to size of plate in centimeters (10 5/8").
Matchstand photos contributed by dbstoneware