DC Off the Beaten Path: Old Post Office Tower

Location: 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004

Overall rating: 3/10

Ghost rating: 3/10

Would I visit again? No

Freebies: None

Built between 1892-1899, the Old Post Office and Clock Tower is a marvel of architecture, looming over the city. The site was chosen to revitalize the DC slum neighborhoods which were nicknamed the attractive "Murder Bay." It served as the General Post Office until 1914 when I guess you wanted to be fancy when sending letters. The Post Office moved near Union Station (which is another museum now. Tough turnaround for post offices.) After that, basically all of Congress just wanted to tear down this building, especially in the '70s when they had funds to do so, but the citizens came together to save it (a la Back to the Future, save the clocktower.)

The building turned into a historic landmark and 1973, but restoration was more difficult than anyone imagined. There was 5 - 6 meters of bird poop in this place. Nevertheless, it opened as a retail space and museum in 1983-1984. In 2012, The Trump Organization was selected to redevelop the building as a hotel, which functioned until May 2022. It was reopened in June 2022 as Waldorf Astoria Washington DC.

Going into the building, there's a slight museum aspect explaining the history of the structure, as well as its ties to developing D.C. as a whole. Then, you get in line for the elevator, which if you're going on a popular day or there's a lot of tour groups, it can take a while to get up there. In fact, there's actually two sets of elevators and the second only takes 4-5 people, so prepare to queue up. You get some nice views of the hotel when going up.

Once you're actually up on the top, it is semi-cool to see things from like 200+ feet, but the windows mostly all have gates on them so you can't really take pictures. And the windows that are open and available for photo ops, they're covered with children's handprints, so it's not amazing. There are little maps pointing out what everything is, which is fun. But I can't imagine spending too long up there. You point to the Natural History Museum, say "oh cool" and then you leave. In my opinion, leave it to the tourists. It's not worth the wait.

LIKES:

- You can cross it off your bucket list? It's a famous building and now I've been up it. Yay!

DISLIKES:

- They don't update the actual tower itself: While the map is helpful (it shows diagrams of the buildings so you can point them out easily), it's not updated. Any new monuments or structures are not on there. But the Newseum is?

- Not great for solo travel: It's kind of boring if you're not going up to take group photos or something. They'll ask you how many are in your party for the elevator and it feels somewhat sad to say 1?

- Ghosts: While I didn't feel anything personally, the building is evidently haunted by the ghost of the DC Postmaster who fell to his death down an elevator shaft in the 1890s.

NOT TO BE MISSED:

- The entrance. It's hard to get into. It's in the back, near all the valet parking. You definitely feel like you're breaking in.

- Talks with the park rangers: They have some interesting stories about their time here!