The new edition of this popular guide is a companion for tourists and residents alike--for anyone interested in contemporary Washington and its most important architectural landmarks. The book offers concise descriptions and photos of some of the city's most notable structures, including nearly 100 built since the mid-1970s. 400 photos. 17 maps.
For architecture aficinados and historians, this comprehensive view of the statues, monuments and architectural plans of Washington DC provides an exciting insight into our federal city. Author Michael Curtis guides this tour of the heart of the District of Columbia's buildings, statues, and monuments. Classical design formed our nation's capital. The soaring Washington Monument, the columns of the Lincoln Memorial and the spectacular dome of the Capitol Building speak to the founders' expansive vision of our federal city. Learn about the L'Enfant and McMillan plans for Washington, D.C., and how those designs are reflected in two hundred years of monuments, museums and representative government. View the statues of our Founding Fathers with the eye of a sculptor and gain insight into the criticism and controversies of modern additions to Washington's monumental structure.
"Washington, D.C. lives in our minds as museums and monuments, capitals and columns, but beyond the timeless monuments of white stone history thrives a city that has moved into the modern and postmodern age. In text and photos, this guide goes beyond the grand avenues to explore remarkable works of contemporary architecture that reinterpret historical styles and reconcile with Washington’s monumental plan. Contemporary Architecture in Washington, D.C. features more than 20 detailed maps and includes photographs of almost 300 buildings, from the waterfront in Georgetown to the town houses of Capitol Hill, from the luxurious residences of Bethesda to the towering office buildings of Crystal City. As a national capital, Washington is a showplace for the best and the latest works by internationally recognized modern masters and talented local firms as well. Beyond buildings, Contemporary Architecture in Washington, D.C. explores new communities and developments in the Washington suburbs and in essays examines the particular forces of style, politics, economics, and history that have come together to form the American capital. Washington is a city of metaphor. From its very streets, the city speaks of democracy and nationhood. The impact of these metaphors comes from a repeated architectural language that is constantly being rewritten to reflect history and our interpretation of it."--back cover
This elegant volume, a guide to the Library of Congress's massive collection of architectural drawings, offers a celebration of the ambitious project of designing the nation's capital. Each of its "capital drawings" reflects some aspect of the lives, history, and values of the building's creators and sponsors. 55 color illustrations. 123 halftones.
"The model of what a concise, attractive guidebook should be."—Mid-Atlantic Country This lively and informative guide offers tourists, residents, and architecture aficionados insights into nearly 450 of Washington, DC's, most noteworthy buildings and monuments. Organized into 19 discrete walking tours, plus one general tour of peripheral sites, this thoroughly revised sixth edition features projects ranging from early federal landmarks to twenty-first-century commercial, institutional, and residential buildings. It includes some 80 new entries covering dozens of recently completed buildings, along with some historic structures that may have been overlooked in the past. The guide also has updated maps, and many existing entries have been rewritten to reflect recent renovations, changes to the buildings' contexts, or additional scholarship. G. Martin Moeller, Jr., blends informed, concise descriptions with engaging commentary on each landmark, revealing surprising details of the buildings' history and design. Every entry is accompanied by a photograph and includes the structure's location, its architects and designers, and the corresponding dates of completion. Each entry is keyed to an easy-to-read map at the beginning of the tour. From the imposing monuments of Capitol Hill and the Mall to the pastoral suburban enclaves of Foxhall and Cleveland Park, from small memorials to vast commercial and institutional complexes, this guide shows us a Washington that is at once excitingly fresh and comfortably familiar. The additions and revisions incorporated into the latest edition illuminate broader demographic and physical changes in the city, including the emergence of new neighborhoods and the redevelopment of once-neglected areas.
Illustrated with plans, maps, and new and historic photographs, the second edition of Worthy of the Nation provides researchers and general readers with an appealing and authoritative view of the planning and evolution of the federal district.
An updated, lively and informative guide offers tourists, residents and architecture aficionados alike insights into more than 400 of Washington, D.C.'s, most important landmarks, noting each's location, architects, designers and date of completion. Simultaneous. Hardcover available.
Today, there are more than twenty complete zodiacs in Washington, D.C., each one pointing to an extraordinary mystery. David Ovason, who has studied these astrological devices for ten years, now reveals why they have been placed in such abundance in the center of our nation's capital and explains their interconnections. His richly illustrated text tells the story of how Washington, from its foundation in 1791, was linked with the zodiac, with the meaning of certain stars, and with a hidden cosmological symbolism that he uncovers here for the first time. Fascinating and thoroughly researched, The Secret Architecture of Our Nation 's Capital is an engrossing book that raises provocative questions and otters complex insights into the meanings behind the mysterious symbols in Washington.
Tracing the various changes in Washington's architectural character from the Revolutionary War to the post-World War II era, the authors survey the major public and government buildings, monuments and memorials, residential buildings and neighborhoods, parks and recreational areas, and commercial and industrial centers. Over 360 photos, drawings, and maps.
This long-awaited Blue Guide is a spectacular tour through the nation's capital city and its environs. Packed with fascinating historical information charting the city's development from the 1600s to present day and highlighting the political luminaries who have called it home, this guide provides the visitor with a thorough knowledge of this wholly unique and grandly designed city. This is the definitive guide to the area, with over thirty walking tours including detailed information on the many federal buildings, monuments, museums, and other important places to see, as well as information on additional sites within the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, and suggested day trips to Civil War battle sites, Baltimore, and Annapolis.