Haunted hotel guide · Washington, D.C.

The Haunted Hotel Monaco, Washington D.C.: Ghosts of the Old General Post Office

A boutique Kimpton hotel inside the white marble General Post Office of 1842, where guests report cries in the vaulted corridors and a woman in Victorian dress.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

2.5/5Haunted Rooms Score
1842Post office completed
2002Opened as a hotel

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

Kimpton Hotel Monaco Washington DC fills an entire city block in Penn Quarter, between 7th and 8th Streets and E and F Streets NW. The building began life as the General Post Office, designed by Robert Mills, the architect of the Washington Monument, and enlarged by Thomas U. Walter, one of the architects of the U.S. Capitol. It is a National Historic Landmark, and since 2002 it has been a 184-room boutique hotel run by Kimpton.

Its ghost story is a quiet one, rooted in the Civil War. Local accounts say that women came to the post office to wait for news of husbands, sons and brothers fighting at the front, and some guests now report hearing cries in the halls and seeing a woman in full Victorian dress. The Washingtonian included the hotel in its guide to haunted places to stay around the city. For the rest of the capital’s haunted stays, see our guide to haunted hotels in Washington, D.C.

Hotel Monaco at a glance

2.5/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation2
History5
Ghost hunter access1
$$ · $150 to $300Pet friendly
  • Address 700 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004, in Penn Quarter
  • Opened Built 1839 to 1842 as the General Post Office, enlarged 1855 to 1866; a hotel since 2002
  • Most haunted spots The long marble corridors and the halls of the original post office
  • Best-known ghosts A woman in Victorian dress and the sound of cries in the halls
  • Booking the haunted room No single room is linked to the ghost, so there is no haunted room to request
  • Good to know Pets stay free, and the restaurant and bar is Dirty Habit, set in the old courtyard

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The ghosts of Kimpton Hotel Monaco Washington DC

The women who waited for news

The best-known story goes back to the Civil War. The post office stayed open through the war, and the story goes that women gathered here waiting for letters and news about loved ones who were off fighting. For many of them the news, when it came, was the worst kind.

According to the Washingtonian, modern guests have reported hearing dreadful cries in the building, and some believe the waiting women never left. It is a local legend rather than a documented haunting: no record names the women or ties the sounds to any particular person.

The woman in Victorian dress

The other recurring report is of a woman seen in full Victorian-era dress. She is usually linked to the same wartime story, a wife or mother still waiting for word from the front. Accounts do not place her in one room or on one floor, which fits a building where the corridors once carried a steady stream of the public coming in for their mail.

A building that saw war twice

The site has a longer wartime history than the ghost story alone. The building that stood here before, Blodgett’s Hotel, was spared by British troops in 1814 and briefly housed Congress after the Capitol was burned. During the Civil War, while Walter’s expansion was still under way, Union soldiers used the basement to store munitions. None of this is tied to a specific ghost, but it helps explain why the old post office attracts stories.

What the hotel says

Kimpton does not market the Monaco as a haunted hotel, and its own site talks about the building’s history rather than its ghosts. Staff are not known to run ghost tours here. If you come looking for the story, treat it as a quiet extra to a stay in one of the most striking historic buildings in the city.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Rooms in the original Mills wing: Converted government offices, many with domed ceilings of 16 to 22 feet, in the oldest part of the building, which fronts E Street.
  • The marble corridors: Barrel-vaulted halls with original details, where the cries are said to be heard late at night.
  • Courtyard-facing rooms: Rooms looking into the old courtyard, the center of the building between the Mills and Walter halves, now home to the Dirty Habit patio.

History of Kimpton Hotel Monaco Washington DC

The site has been in federal hands since 1810, when the government bought Samuel Blodgett’s hotel, designed by James Hoban, the architect of the White House, to house the Post Office Department and the Patent Office. When British troops burned Washington in 1814, Patent Office superintendent William Thornton persuaded them to spare it, and Congress met there until December 1815. A fireplace accident set it ablaze in 1836, destroying thousands of patent models and records.

President Andrew Jackson commissioned a replacement the same year, and Robert Mills designed a U-shaped building in white marble, completed in 1842. Historic Hotels of America describes it as the first all-marble building of its kind in the District of Columbia. In 1845 Samuel Morse opened the first public telegraph office inside.

From 1855 Thomas U. Walter enlarged the building to fill the whole block, using Maryland marble to match the original. The work was interrupted by the Civil War and finished in 1866. Classical details survive throughout: Corinthian pilasters, arcaded recesses, barrel-vaulted corridors and cantilevered granite staircases.

The Post Office Department moved out in 1897, and the building was leased mainly to the General Land Office, a tenant until 1917, and the Bureau of Education. In 1919 General John J. Pershing wrote his final report on the American Expeditionary Forces here. The U.S. Tariff Commission arrived in 1932 and eventually took over the whole building until it left in 1988. The building went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

After standing empty for more than a decade, it was leased by the General Services Administration to Kimpton in 2000. A $32 million, two-year conversion turned the Postmaster General’s library into a ballroom, the mail-sorting pavilion into a restaurant and the old offices into guest rooms. The hotel opened in 2002, and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust acquired it in 2010.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Walk the marble corridors late at night, when the old post office is at its quietest and the cries are said to be heard.
  • Ask for a room in the original Mills wing if you want the oldest part of the building and the tallest ceilings.
  • Have a drink at Dirty Habit, the restaurant and bar set in the building’s old courtyard.
  • Bring the dog: Kimpton lets pets stay free here.
  • Combine your stay with Penn Quarter’s other haunted history: the National Building Museum is a short walk away, and the former Mary Surratt boarding house on H Street is said to be haunted too.
  • For a hotel that leans into its ghosts, pair this stay with the Omni Shoreham’s Ghost Suite in Woodley Park.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

See all Haunted Rooms ghost hunts

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Hotel Monaco in Washington DC haunted?

It has a modest ghost story. Guests report hearing cries in the halls and seeing a woman in Victorian dress, linked to a local legend about women who waited at the post office for news during the Civil War.

What was the Hotel Monaco building originally?

It was the General Post Office, designed by Robert Mills and completed in 1842, then enlarged by Thomas U. Walter by 1866. It later housed the General Land Office and the U.S. Tariff Commission.

Is there a haunted room at the Hotel Monaco?

No. The reports are not tied to a specific room, so there is no haunted room to request. The corridors of the original building are where most stories are set.

When did the Hotel Monaco open?

Kimpton converted the empty building in a two-year, $32 million project and opened the hotel in 2002.

Is the Hotel Monaco a National Historic Landmark?

Yes. The General Post Office building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971 and is a member of Historic Hotels of America.

Is the Hotel Monaco pet friendly?

Yes. Like most Kimpton hotels, it lets pets stay free.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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