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.
Get a glimpse into history with this amazing old photograph of the Cuban Embassy on 16th Street. See the image and read more about it from the Library of Congress!
L’Enfant Plaza in Washington D.C. has a sad history. It was once a vibrant part of the city, but it was bulldozed in the 1960s as part of an urban renewal program. Learn more about this unfortunate chapter of D.C. history.
160 years ago today, Montgomery C. Meigs placed an advertisement in the Daily Evening Star for skilled bricklayers to help in the expansion of the U.S. Capitol. Check out a great photo from 1858 of the Capitol under construction!
The Italian embassy at 16th & Fuller is a tragic reminder of its former glory. Learn the history of this sad building and what it used to be in its heyday.
Check out this unbelievable offer from The Evening Star newspaper in 1906: a home for sale in Washington, DC for just $13,000! That same home is now worth over $1.4 million. Read the incredible story here.
A Shorpy photograph taken from the top of the National Press Building looking down 14th Street, showing the Department of Commerce under construction with the Willard Hotel at right.
Take a look back in time at the construction of the Hart Senate Office Building in 1979, as discovered on the U.S. Capitol’s Flickr page. Learn about this piece of U.S. history and view the photo of the building in progress.
D.C. architect George Oakley Totten Jr. spent 16 years fighting to see his 1917 Calvert Street Bridge design built. Here’s why it never happened.
The building at 1229 Wisconsin Ave NW in Georgetown has a history that predates Apple. Here is the full story of one of DC’s most distinctive retail spaces.
