The Rotonda McLean: Tysons Corner’s Original Condo Island
Five circular towers, 1,168 condominiums, and the man who built the Watergate built them too. The story of The Rotonda in McLean.
Architecture
Washington’s built environment is the product of grand ambitions, fierce debates, and brilliant (and sometimes terrible) ideas across more than two centuries. These posts dig into the buildings, architects, and design decisions that shaped the city we know today.
The Castle at Forest Glen and the 1922 Fire That Made It
The Castle at 10 Post Office Road in Silver Spring is not a 19th-century folly. It is what a midnight furnace fire on April 24, 1922 left of the Forest Glen Trading Company, plus the granite a Pittsburgh oilman and the Seminary president bolted on top.
Commander Salamander and the Many Lives of 1420 Wisconsin Avenue
Before Commander Salamander made Georgetown punk, 1420 Wisconsin Avenue was a 1909 store and a quiet antique shop. The wild history of one storefront.
The Flour Mill in Georgetown: From Bomford’s Mill to 135 Homes
A reader asked about Georgetown’s Flour Mill at 1000 Potomac Street. The building was the neighborhood’s last working mill, and it began as a cannon expert’s cotton factory. Now its offices are headed for a 135-home conversion.
The Northumberland Apartments: Harry Wardman’s 1910 Time Capsule on New Hampshire Avenue
The Northumberland at 2039 New Hampshire Ave NW is Harry Wardman’s 1910 luxury apartment house and DC’s oldest self-managed co-op. Inside its storied past.
Who Founded the Maret School? Three Immigrant Sisters and a Rented Apartment
The Maret School began in 1911 in a rented Washington apartment, founded by three immigrant sisters. The story of how it started, and of the school’s first student.
River Place in Rosslyn: The Arlington Co-op That Expires in 2052
Own a home at River Place in Rosslyn and you don’t own the land beneath it. In 2052, the 99-year lease on the old Arlington Towers runs out. Inside the history of Rosslyn’s brick towers, from a diplomats’ training garage to Arlington’s cheapest river view.
Inside The Big Hunt: How a 1928 Dupont Storefront Became DC’s Weirdest Bar
The Big Hunt opened in 1992 inside a 1928 storefront at 1345 Connecticut Avenue NW and closed for good in 2020. Inside Dupont Circle’s three-story dive bar with the safari kitsch, the hidden patio, and the Hell’s Kitchen basement.
Center Market: Adolph Cluss’s 1872 Pennsylvania Avenue Hall That Became the National Archives
How a German-immigrant friend of Karl Marx designed the country’s largest market hall on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1872, why it ran for 59 years with 666 stalls and a refrigeration plant, and why the federal government tore it down in 1931 to build the National Archives.