The LINE DC

The LINE DC is the hotel for travelers who want to feel the city's neighborhoods rather than its monuments. It occupies a grand neoclassical church, more than a century old, at the edge of Adams Morgan, and the conversion kept the drama: the lobby fills the old sanctuary under a high ceiling, with original architectural details and a vast chandelier made from repurposed organ pipes, and it works as a gathering space where locals come to work, eat and drink. Full Service Radio, an independent station, broadcasts from the lobby, which gives the place a creative, community feel unusual for a hotel. Rooms are residential in style, with warm materials and a curated vintage-meets-modern look, and higher floors look out over the rooftops of Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. The hotel has a full-service restaurant and bar, an all-day coffee shop, room service and a rooftop for warmer months, plus a well-equipped fitness center. Outside, Adams Morgan's 18th Street has the city's densest concentration of bars, music venues and international restaurants, especially Ethiopian and Latin American, and the neighborhood's rowhouses and murals make good walks by day. The National Zoo and Rock Creek Park are a walk away, and Meridian Hill Park, with its cascading fountain and Sunday drum circle, is a few blocks east. The honest notes: there is no Metro station in Adams Morgan, so expect a fifteen-minute walk to Woodley Park or Columbia Heights stations, or rideshares; and 18th Street gets loud on weekend nights. Fit: night owls, couples, creative travelers and repeat visitors who have done the Mall and want a different Washington.

The building was built as a Christian Science church in the early twentieth century and sat largely unused before the LINE's developers took it on. They kept its scale and symmetry, added a modern tower for rooms, and filled the public spaces with local makers, art and food, which is why the hotel feels part of the neighborhood rather than apart from it. Special rates are offered for government and military guests with valid ID. The hotel's food and drink program has historically worked with well-known local chefs and bartenders, and the lobby is often busy with neighborhood regulars on laptops by day and a cocktail crowd by night, so expect energy rather than hush in the public spaces.

Room craft: ask for a high floor for views, and for a room away from the street side if you plan to sleep early on weekends. Spend time in the lobby, which is the hotel's best room, and catch a live broadcast if one is on. In warm months, the rooftop is a fine place for sunset, and Meridian Hill Park is a lovely morning walk.

Practicals: 1770 Euclid Street NW, Adams Morgan, about three miles from Union Station and six from Reagan National Airport. Woodley Park and Columbia Heights Metro stations are each about a fifteen-minute walk, and bus lines run to downtown. Fit: night owls, couples and travelers who want neighborhood life first.