Renovations May Enclose Hotel's Famed Rooftop

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NOTE TO THE FOOD NETWORK: You may want to officially pull the Washington, D.C., episode of "$40 a Day" with Rachael Ray from your re-run lineup.

Why? As of Jan. 1, it will be woefully out of date. If Ray returns to D.C. in 2008, she will not be able to get banana flambe at the Hotel Washington's famed Sky Terrace. In preparation for the storied hotel's transformation into the swank W chain's outpost in the nation's capital, the landmark at 15th and F streets NW, across the way from the Treasury Department headquarters and the White House campus, will close for major renovations.

As The Post's DeNeen L. Brown notes in a retrospective feature on the legendary hotel — which was the backdrop for movies such as "The Godfather: Part II" and "No Way Out" — the famed view from the Sky Terrace roof might be forever altered:

The open-aired balcony gives you unfettered access to Washington. They say the new owners plan to enclose this porch behind glass. What a pity, you think. Behind glass, Washington from this rooftop will not look the same.

Photos by Lois Raimondo/The Washington Post and Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post