The Queen Anne style house located at Number One Observatory Circle was designed by Leon Dessez and constructed in 1893 as the U.S. Naval Observatory's (USNO's) Superintendent's Residence. Thirty years later, in 1923, the home became the residence of the Chief of Naval Operations.

In 1974, Congress designated Number One Observatory Circle as the Vice President of the United States' "official temporary residence." Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (1974-77) was the first to use the home, while his successor, Vice President Walter Mondale (1977-1981), was the first to actually live at the residence. Prior to the 1970s, vice presidents would obtain their own lodging in Washington, with some, including Vice President Calvin Coolidge (1921-1923), even residing at the Willard Hotel.

The three-story brick house, with turret and porch, is compact: 39 by 77 feet. On the ground floor are a reception hall, living room, sitting room, sun porch, dining room, and small pantry — and lavatories added later to the north side. The second floor contains two bedrooms, a study, and a den. The third floor attic was originally servants' quarters and storage space, and the kitchen was placed in the basement, along with a laundry room and other storerooms.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

Exempt from National Register listing

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At a time of Jim Crow ideology and enforced segregation, Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) pioneered the documentation of African American life and the recognition of African American contributions to US history. Born to enslaved parents, Woodson was self-educated until he began formal schooling at the age of twenty. He received degrees from Berea College and the University of Chicago, and after several years of teaching, travel, and studies abroad, he settled in Washington, DC. In 1912, Woodson became the second African American (after W.E.B. DuBois) to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. In 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and a year later, the Journal of Negro History, with offices from his home. The journal continues to publish today as the Journal of African American History. Before retiring from teaching in 1922, Woodson taught at M Street and Armstrong High Schools and at Howard University, where he served as Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Head of the Graduate Faculty. In 1926, Woodson was instrumental in creating Negro History Week, which is now observed as Black History Month. In 1937, he founded the Negro History Bulletin, to reach a broader audience than the academic journal. At the time of his death, he was working on a six-volume Encyclopedia Africana. Over a lifetime of scholarship, Woodson significantly contributed to Black studies, and the historic site designation of his home confirms his place within history. DC Inventory: March 3, 1979

National Register: May 11, 1976

National Historic Landmark: May 11, 1976

National Historic Landmark (Updated Documentation): December 11, 2023

National Historic Site: February 27, 2006

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The oldest “Y” in DC, the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) was established in 1905 by African American women and named after Phyllis Wheatley, an enslaved woman and famous poet in 19th century America. The YWCA moved between facilities in DC before settling on Rhode Island Avenue NW in 1920.

For over 100 years, the dedicated women of the YWCA have provided residents of the Shaw neighborhood with educational programs, housing, employment, recreation, and community services, such as a dinner program for underprivileged children. In the early 1900s, the YWCA assisted Black migrants escaping discrimination in the Jim Crow South by meeting them at Union Station to offer both shelter and food. During World War II, segregated United Service Organizations (USO) turned away African American servicemen. The YWCA organized and established their own USO center to help support these men and their families. The historic landmark is also significant to DC's Women's Suffrage Movement.

Constructed out of red brick with a corbeled brick cornice, this building exemplifies typical Colonial Revival designs prevalent in DC during the 1920s and 1930s. The YWCA, designed by the New York firm of Shroeder and Parish, includes four stories and a raised basement. Its interior is largely utilitarian, with multiple large rooms reserved as public meeting spaces. The upper floors of the YWCA include dormitory rooms.

Throughout its existence, the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA has been a continuous support system and advocate for its community.

DC Inventory: June 27, 1974

National Register: October 6, 1983

National Register (Additional Documentation): July 26, 2024

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The Wilbur J. Cohen Building, formerly the Social Security Administration Building, is a monumental presence amongst significant public buildings on the National Mall. The building is part of the modern architectural movement of the first half of the 20th century, while harking back to 19th century revivalism in its organization and detailing.

Charles Z. Klauder (1872-1938), consulting architect under the supervision of then Supervising Architect of the Treasury, Louis A. Simon (1867-1958), designed the building with block-like massing, planar wall surfaces, and simple geometric forms that are reflective of classically influenced modern styles that dominated the design of public buildings of the era.

Constructed between 1939 and 1940, the Social Security Administration Building is primarily clad in Indiana limestone and rises five stories, with a sixth floor penthouse/recreational space. The interior of the building falls more clearly into Art Moderne characteristics through the use of sharp contrasts between materials, clean geometric forms, and shiny and smooth-textured materials. The building includes an extensive art collection, including murals by Ben Shahn and Seymour Fogel.

For many years, the building has housed Voice of America and the US Agency for Global Media.

DC Inventory: April 26, 2007

National Register: July 6, 2007

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The Columbia Hospital for Women, originally opened in 1866 as a healthcare facility for wives and widows of Civil War soldiers, was the city's birthplace of choice for all races for a century and a half. The hospital was the primary maternity facility in the city and the birthplace of about 275,000 individuals—the vast majority of all persons born in the District of Columbia during the 20th century. Until its closure in 2002, Columbia was also a leading national and international innovator in women and infant health.

Columbia's position as a prominent hospital for childbirth led to many milestones over the years of its existence. In 1919, it established a prenatal care program, and in 1925, it became the first hospital to use babies’ footprints for identification. It was one of the first maternity hospitals to establish nurseries for premature infants, and the first to provide classes for expectant fathers. It was also a leader in the care of children, with its Clinic for Children giving rise to Children’s Hospital.

Columbia Hospital was first located at Thomas Circle, but in 1876 it moved to the present site, where it used the former Maynard Mansion as a nurses’ home. The present five-story structure, built in 1916, overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue. The Italianate design by architect Nathan C. Wyeth is extraordinary for its sculptural complexity, with a design that highlights the importance of light and air in medical thinking of the day.

DC Inventory: December 18, 2002

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Following the merger of two banks, this building operated as the headquarters for the new Federal-American National Bank. The bank building was designed by architect Alfred C. Bossom (1881-1965), in association with Washington’s leading Beaux-Arts practitioner, Jules Henri de Sibour (1872 -1938). Built between 1925 and 1926, the bank has an unusual plan, with the banking room on a raised main floor and retail space at street level (as illustarted by the shoe store that once operated on the lower level, below the bank). This architectural design is unique to DC bank buildings in the early 20th century, in that it utilized the second floor to separate internal financial business from the cacophonous noise of the street. The building features a monumental Classical Revival façade in limestone, with large arched windows, engaged columns, sculptural embellishment, and a bronze vestibule. The banking room is designed in the Renaissance Revival style and has a marble entrance stair, mezzanine, elaborate polychrome coffered ceiling, chandeliers, ornamentation in classical motifs, and an innovative open counter design. In October 1930, Federal-American merged with Merchants Bank and Trust, and operated four branches in the city — in addition to its central office. Despite this apparent success, the banking crisis of 1933 and the ensuing financial turmoil of the Great Depression rendered the bank insolvent. Thus, it did not receive a government license to resume operation. Part of this closure was due to the Federal-American building itself, an impressive and costly structure that constituted the majority of the bank’s financial reservoirs during a time of crisis. This type of investment is not easily liquidated, and was a major factor in the closure of banks, which precipitated the Great Depression. Federal-American was just one of many bank casualties across the nation. The federal government established Hamilton National Bank out of seven local banks (including Federal-American) and the central office was operated out of this building. In 1954, Hamilton merged with the National Bank of Washington and retained residence at this stunning building on 14th Street NW. The building then sat vacant for a number of years, awaiting a new use. In recent years, the original bank building has undergone an extensive restoration and renovation, and now operates as office, retail, and restaurant space. The building now includes a rooftop deck, fitness club, and terrace gardens. An 11-story office building facing G Street has also been added to the building’s rear elevation. Both the bank building’s exterior and interior are historically designated. DC Inventory: July 18, 1990

The Forrest-Marbury House is the District's only building whose documented history is intertwined with the founding of the national capital. It was in this house that George Washington dined with the District Commissioners and others on the day in March 1791 when Washington and the local proprietors reached the agreement that established the Federal City's approximate boundaries and arrived at a formula for dividing the land between the Government and the proprietors.

The house was constructed sometime between 1788 and 1790 when the property was owned by Benjamin Stoddert, an active slaveholder. Uriah Forrest, Stoddert's business partner, lived in the house in the early 1790s, and John Marbury, the plaintiff in the famous Marbury v. Madison (1803) decision, lived in the house during the early 19th century.

The historic home on M Street NW now houses the Embassy of Ukraine.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

National Register: July 2, 1973

Within Georgetown Historic District

This site is included in the Capital City Slavery Tour as a site of enslavement and living space for enslaved laborers. For further information on slavery in the District, explore DC Preservation League's Capital City Slavery Digital Exhibit.

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The Greyhound Bus Terminal, completed in 1940, is a classic Art Deco/Streamline Moderne landmark, with a design aesthetic that epitomizes the promise of the industrial age as the hope for the future. The stepped central tower facing New York Avenue NW, a typical "ziggurat" design, exudes freshness and optimism, with its clean, triumphal lines. The clear planar and curvilinear forms with smooth surfaces also suggest the speed with which Greyhound's Super Coaches were to whisk patrons to their destinations.

DC's Greyhound Bus Terminal is the work of William Strudwick Arrasmith (Wischmeyer, Arrasmith & Elswick Architects) of Louisville, Kentucky, who designed more than 25 Greyhound bus terminals between 1937 and 1950. The building features quintessential materials of the Streamline Moderne style, including limestone, glazed brick, glass block, aluminum, formica, and terrazzo.

For more than 40 years, from 1940 to 1987, the Greyhound Bus Terminal was an important transportation hub for the city, especially during the years of World War II. In April 1947, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Morgan v. Virginia, which invalidated state laws that enforced segregation on interstate transportation, the "Journey of Reconciliation" — led by civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, and co-sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) — departed from the terminal.

Most famously, the terminal served as one of two departure points in DC for the 1961 Freedom Rides, also sponsored by CORE. Intended to test the enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions that had ruled bus segregation unconstitutional, a bus departing from this station, as well as one departing from the nearby Trailways station, took Black and white riders through several Southern states. With interracial pairs sitting together in the bus seats and Black riders stationed at the front of the bus, the rides did not encounter trouble as they departed DC, but as they traveled further south, the Freedom Riders faced mobs and organized violence. The Freedom Rides became a significant moment for the Civil Rights Movement.

Threatened with demolition after its closure in 1987, the Greyhound Bus Terminal was saved by preservationists from the DC Preservation League, the Art Deco Society of Washington, and the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, who mobilized quickly and successfully to have the building added to the DC Inventory of Historic Sites that same year.

Notably, in an effort to "modernize," the terminal's exterior had been enclosed with a slipcover of cement-asbestos wall and metal mansard roof panels in 1976. Preservationists successfully argued that the slipcover had been added with minimal impact to the original exterior, and that once the slipcover was removed the streamlined design of 1940 would be found.

Today, the former terminal serves as the entrance pavilion to a 12-story office building completed in 1991. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the historic landmark's exterior, and interior lobby and waiting room were restored by architect Hyman Myers. The historic landmark designation was extended to the interior lobby and waiting room in 2025, with a new period of significance that extends from the terminal's opening in 1940 to the completion of the restoration in 1991.

DC Inventory: March 4, 1987

DC Inventory (Amendment, including Interior Lobby and Waiting Room): November 20, 2025

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Designed by Paul J. Pelz (1841-1918), this Romanesque Revival style building was demolished just as the plan to preserve it was beginning. Built in 1891, the McGill Building (named for Architect James H. McGill (1853-1908), who is known for the development of LeDroit Park) was one of the first office buildings in DC to have an elevator. It was also Pelz’s most notable commercial building. Other works by this architect include the Library of Congress and Georgetown University’s Healy Hall.  In 1973, the building was declared a Category III landmark by the Joint Committee on Landmarks in an effort to preserve the building, if possible. However, the committee did not know that PMI (Parking Management, Inc.) had already been granted a permit to demolish the building. The complications that followed would be over a signature issue: PMI had signed the demolition permit application even though they were not yet the owner of the McGill Building, which was still owned by the Loughbran Foundation and its trustee Carl Gell.  In February 1973, the President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation wrote a letter showcasing the ways that the building could be preserved in the form of a parking garage that would mimic the facade. Despite these efforts in the early days of the historic preservation movement, the building would be demolished that same year. However, the McGill Building’s loss would prove to be a crucial milestone in Washington’s historic preservation movement. By the end of the decade, the city adopted a historic preservation ordinance – the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act of 1978 – creating the current process of designating and protecting historic sites.

DC Inventory: February 20, 1973 (Joint Committee on Landmarks) Demolished: 1973

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Constructed over a period of decades at the turn of the 20th century, the McMillan Park Reservoir’s original slow sand filtration system was DC’s first water purification facility. Connected to the Washington Aqueduct, the reservoir treated the city’s public water supply and in doing so eliminated typhoid and malaria epidemics in DC. The McMillan Park Reservoir’s name honors Senator James McMillan of Michigan, best known for his work with the Senate Park Improvement Commission. The commission’s McMillan Plan sought to redesign the National Mall to better reflect Pierre L’Enfant’s original plan for the city. Although McMillan did not live to see the reservoir completed, his work and his collaboration with major figures of the City Beautiful movement, such as Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Charles F. McKim, Herbert Adams, and Charles Platt are reflected in the original design of McMillan Park. This is especially true of Olmsted’s landscaping, which concealed the water treatment facility under a public park. McMillan Park remained open to and popular with the public until World War II, when it was fenced off for fear of enemies sabotaging the city’s water supply. In the 1980s, the original filtration system was decommissioned, having become obsolete, and a new treatment facility now operates next to the old one. Debates ensued over the proposed redevelopment of much of the original McMillan Park. A plan was finally selected and the space between North Capitol and First streets NW is now in the process of being redeveloped.

In 2024, the redeveloped southern portion of the site opened as part of the new Reservoir District. Here, visitors will find the restored McMillan Memorial Fountain (which was also moved to a new location), as well as ten concrete sand bins and two regulator houses. The site also includes a new community/recreation center, playground, fountains, and public park. The Slow Sand Filtration Plant is visible as well.

The next phase of the redevelopment, on the central and northern portions of the site, will include new housing, a grocery store, restaurants and stores, and two health centers. The other concrete sand bins and regulator houses will be incorporated into the new, mixed-use development.