Washington, DC
-
The Tidal Basin is monument central. This view from the Jefferson Memorial across toward the Washington Monument is one of the city's most stunning. The cherry trees along the basin, which bloom each April to great fanfare, are one of the capital's most stunning natural displays and the greatest legacy of First Lady Nellie Taft. -
Pierre L’Enfant’s city plan adores grand vistas, like this one on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. -
Federal-style architecture dominates much of Washington, particularly the city’s monumental core. The Ronald Reagan Building is one such example. -
The fountain at Dupont Circle was designed by Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon, who also collaborated on the Lincoln Memorial. -
A decidedly stranger project takes shape on Massachusetts Avenue NW, not far from the Vice Presidential mansion and Naval Observatory—–the Kahlil Gibran Memorial, a District oddity. -
Freeway Park, 1976, Seattle, WA, Lawrence Halprin, Of recent efforts to declaw the park by ripping out a third of the waterfalls, Birnbaum says, “It’s like removing two of the Burghers of Calais! This was the first park built over a freeway in America. It’s magical and confrontational. Today you have to squint to get the impact; they’ve added garish plantings, removed benches to deter the homeless, and have plans for a sculpture garden, when the whole place is a sculpture.” -
Commissioned to be the headquarters of the US Pension Bureau and now home to the National Building Museum architect Montgomery C. Megis’s brick building was completed in 1887. -
The brick row houses of Logan Circle, at Vermont and Rhode Island Avenues NW, have a style distinct from those in other neighborhoods of the District. -
In the late 1930s Congress mandated an art museum for the National Mall, initially getting behind a design by Eliel Saarinen. Gordon Bunshaft would come to design that museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. -
Modern master Richard Neutra built this house on the edge of Rock Creek Park. -
Moeller calls the National Mall “a great big void.” The Smithsonian museums and federal institutions that ring the central green attract all manner of tourists. -
The perilous descent into Dupont Circle’s Metro station from the Q Street NW entrance is a popular photo opportunity.
Categories:
More
Washington, DC
Washington, DC, is not all political wonks and Masonic conspiracies: It's also a highly walkable city, its diagonal avenues wide open to modern design.
Modern Embassy Walking Tour in DC with Editor Aaron Britt
Embassy Row along Massachusetts Avenue NW is one of the great architectural and cultural treats of Washington DC. Newly constructed embassies mingle with the brick colonials that give the city so much of its charm, but occasionally a nation will elect to built its American home in the modern style, making a bold statement about its values, aesthetics and intentions. Stroll Embassy Row as you never have before as Dwell editor Aaron Britt illuminates some of the city's modern marvels. Spend your Friday morning, May 22nd learning about Washington's modern architectural history and taking a rare peek inside some the best architecture the world has to offer. We will begin the tour at Dupont Circle at 10:00 am and end the tour at 2:00 pm with a no-host lunch at Amy’s Pizza on Macomb Street NW. Wear comfortable shoes for this 3 mile walk.
Stops along the way include rare peeks inside the Danish Embassy and Residence, the Finnish Embassy, and the Swiss Embassy Residence. We'll also wander past the English, Italian, Belgian and Brazilian Embassies, as well as other uniquely Washingtonian architectural treats.
Tickets: $20.00
Limited Availability
Get ticketsLearn more about Dwell Conversations: Designing Diplomacy with Dwell editor Aaron Britt on Thursday, May 21.
Water Knows No Boundaries
Will Baker, president, Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Iris Miller, ASLA, The Catholic University of America; and Tommy Wells, Washington, D.C. Councilmember, discuss practical solutions for cleaning up watersheds that cross multiple municipalities, with a specific focus on the 40-year effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay. Moderated by Joe Palca, correspondent for NPR’s science desk.
Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series
The Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, D.C., will open its exhibition of Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series on June 30. It will include over 80 abstract works by the innovative artist including paintings and drawings created with a range of methods as well as monotypes and prints. The exhibition, which covers the 21-year span in which the artist worked in the Southern California community of Ocean park, closes on September 23rd.
Add comment