The Old Ebbitt Grill is a historic bar and restaurant located at 675 15th Street NW in Washington DC. The Old Ebbitt Grill was founded as the "Frenchman's Hotel" in 1856, named for its French immigrant facilities manager; the Old Ebbitt Grill is Washington's oldest restaurant. Not long after the hotel's foundation, it became a boarding house under the name of the "Ebbitt House", and it was razed in 1872 and rebuilt that same year as a six-story, Second Empire-style hotel with 300 rooms and an elevator. Ebbitt House became one of the most stylish restaurants in Washington, attracting prominent visitors such as Winfield Scott Hancock, William Tecumseh Sherman, Samuel Rhoads Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Johnson, Henry Ward Beecher, James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Warren G. Harding. During the late 19th century, its long-term residents included William McKinley, Salmon P. Chase, and William Howard Taft. From the late 1860s to 1910s, the hotel was frequented by veterans and was nicknamed "the Army and Navy Headquarters." By the early 20th century, however, the hotel had greatly declined, and a 1913 fire devastated the hotel. In 1926, Ebbitt House was razed to make way for the National Press Club building, but it was relocated during that same time and fell into anonymity from 1926 to 1980. In 1970, Clyde's Restaurant Group purchased the hotel and gradually transformed it into an icon of the Washington DC food scene; as early as 1977, it was praised for its bacon cheeseburgers. In 1983, the Old Ebbitt Grill building was again demolished, but it reopened on 15th Street in 1983, with an interior designed after the original venue. By the 2010s, the Old Ebbitt Grill was a favorite venue for Secret Service personnel and citizens alike due to its location next to the White House.
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