Riggs Bank Vault in Washington D.C.

In 1847, the bank lent $16 million to the U.S. government to pay for the Mexican–American War.

In 1868, the bank provided $7.2 million in gold from this vault for the purchase of Alaska from the Russians for less that 2 cents an acre.

In the 1860s, the bank financed Robert Peary’s first expedition to the North Pole and the expansion of the United States Capitol.

With this vaulted history, it is now the basement of our DC hotel stay.