Pierre L’Enfant’s original plan for the Federal City remains the blueprint for the city to this day, and often when trying to decide how best to proceed with a project, the city’s planners look to that 220 year old document to help guide their decision. As the discussion rages on whether to convert Virginia Avenue […]
As the US Capitol and its buildings grew to keep pace with the growing country, many historic buildings were removed to make way for new, purpose-built structures. These lost buildings give endless fodder for these columns, of course, but also represent a tragic loss to those who are historically-minded. Today’s column looks at one particularly […]
Repurposing churches is all the rage these days. Whether they’re being turned into condos, or offices, or bars, the grand spaces and architectural details give the architects in charge a huge variety of options. In some cases, though, it seems as if the best idea would be to keep it as a church. Today’s subject, […]
One thing that’s fun about research is the amount of random information that comes your way as you search through archives. It used to be that you might find something by chance in a library, or in a book that was referenced by another book. Today, of course, the prime method for such random connections […]
The US Capitol today has every modern convenience. I have several times had to explain to visitors that the they will not need to leave the Capitol to make a phone call, that it has excellent reception throughout. This interest in having the most modern of technologies has been true for its entire life, and […]