Crossing the LineTwenty-five years after its copper entry doors were boarded up, the 110-year-old First Church of Christ, Scientist, building in Adams Morgan has been born again. Soft-opened in December, The Line DC has transformed the church and an adjacent structure into Washington’s hippest new hotel. New York-based Sydell Group conceived The Line in collaboration with INC Architecture & Design.

“We knew we wanted it to be rooted in its architecture and its history, as well as in the community,” says the hotel’s managing director, Crawford Sherman. “We thought a lot about the evolving identities of neighborhoods and how they change.”

In the soaring lobby, formerly the church’s sanctuary, original Palladian windows, millwork and brass details have been carefully preserved. Here, locals and guests congregate and pore over laptops, sipping lattes and other libations.

The hotel partnered with local chefs and mixologists, including Erik Bruner-Yang, Spike Gjerde, and Todd Thrasher, to run innovative food-and-beverage spots and with local artists on the décor. Nods to the building’s past range from original pews painted and used as bench seating throughout the hotel to brass organ pipes repurposed to create an awe-inspiring lobby chandelier.

In lieu of formulaic hotel trappings, The Line ventures into uncharted territory. A recording booth tapes podcasts that stream in guest rooms and online, while real plants adorn all 220 of its rooms—no two of which are exactly alike. Accommodations, says Sherman, “offer a micro-view of the multi-faceted residents of DC, their past, and present.” Look for a mix of modern and classic furnishings, industrial lighting and 3,000 original works of art—all created by women artists. An awakening, indeed.

Rates from $268. 1770 Euclid Street, NW; thelinehotel.com/dc