D.C.’s Upper Northwest neighborhoods include Cleveland Park, Van Ness, Glover Park, Tenleytown, Friendship Heights, and Chevy Chase. The area is home to historic estate gardens, residential enclaves, and the stunning Washington National Cathedral, which offers several distinct spaces for private events: Cathedral Nave, Bethlehem Chapel, Cathedral Towers, and Charles A. Perry Auditorium. The newly opened Virginia Mae Center on the cathedral grounds offers meeting spaces, an intimate chapel, a dining facility, an enclosed garden courtyard, and overnight accommodations for up to 23 guests.
The 834-room Omni Shoreham hotel, just to the south in Woodley Park, features 834 guest rooms and more than 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space. The hotel’s largest space, a 15,718-square-foot ballroom, can host 3,500 for receptions and seat 2,200 theater style. Omni Shoreham’s 40,887-square-foot exhibit hall holds up to 165 exhibit booths.
Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute in Woodley Park (The National Zoo) is located on a 163-acre campus within the urban Rock Creek Park. Admission is free, and visitors are sure to enjoy the new giant white pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao. The National Zoo offers approximately a dozen indoor and outdoor venues, including a newly renovated auditorium seating 280. The outdoor Great Cats Exhibit accommodates 2,000 for receptions and 1,000
for seated events and allows guests to explore lion and tiger habitats.
