Beyond the Mall and the monuments, Washington is full of landmarks with stories worth knowing. These posts cover the squares, circles, markets, arenas, and buildings that have defined the city’s geography and character over the centuries.
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.
In the 1950s, the top entertainers in the country performed on 14th Street NW. By the early 1980s, it was known as Washington’s “combat zone,” lined with topless bars and adult bookstores. By 1986, it was rubble. What happened in between reveals how gentrification works when moral crusades and economic interests perfectly align.
The stone arches near the Kennedy Center are the Godey Lime Kilns, Washington’s last 19th-century industrial ruin.
In 1807, two brothers named Andrew and George Way opened a glass factory on the Potomac, where the Lincoln Memorial stands today.
Before the Hay-Adams Hotel went up in 1928, the lot held the homes of John Hay, Lincoln’s secretary, and the writer Henry Adams.
Discover the origins of the Air and Space Museum in this historical journey – when was it built and how it became an iconic institution.
A photograph of the Smithsonian Castle taken around 1867, just two years after the Civil War ended. The red sandstone building was barely a decade old.
Step back in time to the 1922 Annual Beauty Contest at the Washington Bathing Beach. Explore the stunning winners and fashion trends of the era.
In June 1922 a Washington cop knelt on the sand of the Tidal Basin with a tape measure pressed against a woman’s thigh. He was checking how far her swimsuit climbed above the knee.
