After 20 years of fending off the Washington humidity, the Tombs needed a new air conditioner.
The Tombs was closed for five weeks this summer while the facilities underwent multiple structural and cosmetic improvements.
It had not been significantly renovated since the Clyde’s Group bought the restaurant in 1985, Molly Schoen, manager of the three 36th-Street Clyde’s restaurants, said.
1789, F. Scott’s and the Tombs are all owned by the Clyde’s Group, which also owns Clyde’s on M Street.
The most noticeable difference upon walking into the Tombs is the higher ceiling, a two-foot increase that is significant in this basement location.
“It’s much less claustrophobic,” Patrick Schmitt (SFS ‘06) said, enjoying lunch in the improved restaurant with friends Tuesday.
In addition to replacing the air conditioning system, workers also installed new bathrooms, an updated sound system and new sprinkler and electrical wiring systems to improve safety. The resulting exposed pipes and ductwork add to the visual changes in the restaurant’s d?cor.
There were also some purely cosmetic improvements. A network of track lighting suspended from the ceiling showcases unique artwork previously obscured by fifteen years of grease and smoke.
“It was like taking the clock off your grandmother’s kitchen wall after a lifetime of smoking and cooking,” Schoen said. Before renovation, she said, the only clean part of the wall was the area behind the pictures, creating an odd pattern of rectangles surrounded by dirty brick.
“We scrubbed it from top to bottom,” Schoen said. The walls of the Tombs were power washed, the wood was varnished, the brass was polished and the glass covering the artwork was cleaned and shined.
Eamonn Carr (CAS ‘06), Secretary of Housing and Facilities for the Georgetown University Student Association, had an explanation for the renovations. If Darnall Dining Hall became a full-scale restaurant or bar, he theorized, the Tombs could lose its monopoly on student hang-outs close to campus.
“The Clyde’s restaurant group is already beginning to view Darnall as competition,” Carr said.
He saw the summer’s improvements as a direct response to this threat.
Schoen, however, denied the connection. “There was no real problem that caused us to make these changes; it was just time for them to be made,” she said.
According to Schoen, Clyde’s considered reopening F. Scott’s, but finally decided that it was best suited to its current use, private parties.
“We are fortunate to have the loyalty of our students and faculty, and we just want them to come back to a cleaner Tombs, ” Schoen said.
