User:Kathleen Katz/sandbox

DRAFT - WORK IN PROGRESS

Hotelier Extraordinaire Rose Narva began her career in the 1950's under thetutelage of Claude Phlippe at New York's Waldorf-Astoria. She learned the hospitality business from the best, including César Ritz, the manager of London's Savoy Hotel who told Narva: "A good hotel is when your staff knows the guests by name. A great hotel is when the guests know the staff by name."

She developed her own style and philosophy about "innkeeping in the grand manner." She was known to tell her staff: "Every request must be receive a response. Never say no. That's the Golden Rule,"Narva believed that "caring develops loyalties, and the loyalties come from the guests," she says. Known as the "Notorious Proprietress" and described by Los Angeles Magazine as "a curious mix of Sofia Loren and Maria Callas"

--- She arrived in Washington, D.C. in the early 1960s with her husband, Dr. William M. Narva, a physician (later became President Reagan's personal physician)and became known for her ability to transform hotels from substandard to premiere hostelries. She managed the renovations of The Sheraton-Carlton, the Jefferson, and later the venerable Hay Adams Hotel across from The White House.

Mrs. Narva has been referred to as "the acclaimed Duchess of Capital-City Hoteldom" the "Savoir Faire" at the luxury D.C. hotels,

president of the Hay-Adams - and generally acclaimed duchess of capital-city hoteldom - Mrs. Narva knows how to maintain her poise. Which is fortunate. In the middle of the interview there is an enormous crash overhead, like an elephant tripping over its tusks. Mrs. Narva barely blinks. It has been that kind of day. Early that morning the laundry broke down, which in a 165-bed hotel could be a drip-dry tragedy....

GIVENCHY SPA & HOTEL Just off East Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs Described as "outpost of luxury" and a replica of

THE HAY ADAMS HOTEL The Hay Adams Hotel, which is situated on the 19th-century homes of John Hay and Henry Adams, was purchased in 1983 by David H. Murdock, a West Coast real estate developer and financier. Mr. Murdock asked Mrs. Narva to restore the hotel to its former elegance. Mrs. Narva told the New York Times that the Hotel had "never been restored the way it should have been...[I]t's a museum piece.."

Under her guidance, the Hay Adams Hotel became the place to be seen. Nancy Reagan, Vice President Bush and his wife Barbara were frequent guests for Sunday brunch. The luxury hotel catered to many in the Rea Reagan administration and West Coast celebrities, international bankers and European diplomats.

THE JEFFERSON HOTEL The Jefferson Hotel was always in the news, it's the reputation precedes it, is a tribute to the hustle of Rose Narva," wrote Washington Post Charles Trueheart (reference). As the Hotel's managing director (1980 to 1983 and 1985 - 1990) Rose Narva applied her style for pampering her famous clientel including Hollywood celebrities Candice Bergen and Jason Robards; historic figures including John Kenneth Galbraith and William F. Buckley Jr.; and Reagan White House appointees receive the cream of service. Reagan's Defense Secretary, and Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner lived at the hotel.

She designed the hotel doormen's gray gabardine topcoat and soft astrakhan collar, creating a warm and prosperous look" Narva recalls a phrase she learned from the manager of London's Savoy Hotel: "A good hotel is when your staff knows the guests by name.

This attention, and the reputation that precedes it, is a tribute to the hustle of Rose Narva. Still, she yearns for more -- specifically, title to the property that is hers in all but fact already. The death of Edward Bennett Williams, who bought the Jefferson in 1976, makes this prospect more than an idle notion -- and in fact rumors abound that a deal for its sale has been cut by the Williams estate.

Early Life Rose Narva, the daughter of a Brooklyn construction company owner, grew up in Brooklyn. She was familiar with the grand hotels of New York and knew she wanted to devote her life to the maintenance of the majestic structures:the Astor Hotel (now torn down), the Plaza, the Pierre, the Sherry-Netherland.

She apprenticed at the Waldorf-Astoria in the 1950s, invokes the spirit of Ce'sar Ritz

Rose moved to Los Angeles, California where her husband served as rear admiral in the Navy Medical Corps. She worked as an auditor of a Los Angeles Hotel and at Columbia Pictures. When his position brought them to Washington, Mrs. Narva managed a Maryland resort hotel called Linden Hill.

Kathleen Katz (talk) 07:01, 7 August 2017 (UTC)KK