Metropolitan Hotel (Washington, D.C.)

Built in 1850 by the heirs of Jesse Brown,[1] the Metropolitan was "brick with marble veneer, originally five stories, approx[imately] twenty bays.

[5][6] Successive owner-operators of taverns on the block included Solomon Meyer, Robert Underwood, Nicholas L. Queen, George W. Lindsay, John Davis, and David McKeowin, all of whom built or linked extant structures in various combinations.

[6] "The Star-Spangled Banner" was supposedly sung for the first time ever at this tavern in December 1814 "during a dinner given by the citizens of the district to the Secretary of the Navy, William Jones, who was resigning his office.

Brown called his Washington enterprise the Indian Queen Tavern—the name having probably been suggested from a hotel by the same name once kept by David Arrell on Market street in nearby Alexandria.

[4] Benjamin Perley Poore includes an extended description of the Indian Queen in his memoirs of life in 19th-century Washington, published 1887.

"[13] Items deposited in the time capsule in the cornerstone included grains of gold brought by John Walker from California, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and "Rev.

[3][9] The hotel had a "broad, low ceiled lobby" that was usually "filled with broad-hatted frock-coated men" and reminded people more of "Memphis or New Orleans than of the Northern cities.