Nannie Helen Burroughs, a leader in advocating for African American women’s education and a civil rights activist, combined her education and leadership roles in the National Baptist Convention with her organizing skills to create what would become…

Constructed in two phases between 1848 and 1885, the Washington Monument stands as a memorial to America’s first president: George Washington. The surrounding historic district is located in the center of the National Mall, bounded by Constitution…

As the seat of the Union at the intersection of the North and the South, Washington D.C. played a pivotal role in the Civil War. Throughout the progression of the conflict, D.C. constructed numerous fort sites around the city center to protect the…

The Washington National Cathedral has been a landmark of religious significance for over a century, and its surrounding structures date back to the early twentieth century. The Cathedral Close (an enclosed area surrounding the designated spot for…

President’s Park South constituted a signal piece of L’Enfant’s early city plan for Washington, and was acquired by the Federal Government in the 1790s. L’Enfant initially envisioned a large, 80-acre landscaped area upon which the Executive Mansion…

The Bloomingdale Historic District is a group of 1,692 contributing resources bounded by Channing Street to the north; North Capital Street to the east; Florida Avenue to the south; and 2nd Street to the west. Bloomingdale is significant for its…

In the 1930s, Colony Hill – near Reservoir and Foxhall roads – emerged as a distinctive suburban development built in an architectural style that echoed the Georgian and Federal styles of the early American nation. In the decade between 1931 and…

The Kingman Park Historic District, located at the northeastern end of today’s Capitol Hill, was principally developed during the late 1920s through 1940s as a residential neighborhood for African Americans. The district was part of a larger area…

Union Market Terminal is a large complex of wholesale warehouse buildings occupying an approximately forty-acre tract of land located east of Union Station between Florida and New York Avenues NE. Conceived in 1928 by a federation of wholesalers…

The Smithsonian Quadrangle features four buildings in a campus-like setting on the south side of the National Mall: the Smithsonian Castle (1847-55), the Arts and Industries Building (1879-81), the Freer Gallery of Art (1923), and the largely…