You can’t just put a foreign diplomatic mission anywhere in the District. There are restrictions on where you can buy, build, or rent a property.
Above is a cool map we came across at the Library of Congress from 1987 which outlines where — pursuant to the Foreign Missions Act — it’s acceptable to house your diplomatic missions in our capital city. Here‘s a list of them on Wikipedia.
Open the full-size image for a more detailed version. And, if you’re interested in learning more about the history of embassy buildings around town, check out this one on the old Irish free state (now Russia House), Kenya, Indonesia, 1930s photos of the Cuban embassy, and a lot more.
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