More than monumental: Washington’s tallest, grandest, shiniest and brutalist buildings

Washington’s architecture mixes myriad styles in a unique setting of public and private spaces. By Michael O’Sullivan and Stephanie Merry.

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Charles Dickens once called Washington a city of "magnificent intentions." To some degree, that's true. The symbolism of Pierre L'Enfant's original plan for the U.S. capital -- a literal evocation of our young nation's faith in the power of orderly democracy and idealism -- is still visible in the city's tightly gridded streetscape, grand monuments and temples of power, all surrounding, and emanating from, the wide-open expanse of the Mall. But since 1791, L'Enfant's formal garden of a city has sprouted some interesting weeds. Tastes -- and people -- have changed, transforming the four quadrants.

Courtesy of Don Alexander Hawkins /

This is a story about Washington's architecture, but it is not a list of its greatest buildings. Rather, it's about how architecture shapes, and is shaped by, the unique nature of life in Washington. It is a city of government and international intrigue, but it is also a place where ordinary people live, worship and play. To that end, we offer 10 perspectives on the city that illustrate its diverse design and personality. So, look up and around. But do not mistake Washington for its buildings alone. In the words of Yoshio Taniguchi, who designed the Museum of Modern Art, architecture is basically a container of something. Echoing his sentiments, we also hope that you will "enjoy not so much the teacup, but the tea."

Photo of the Visio at 2109 10th St. NW by Michael O'Sullivan/The Washington Post

BRUTALISM: A love/hate relationship

Among Washington's many and varied architectural styles -- from the ornate neoclassicism of the White House to the city's tidy Federal rowhouses -- there's arguably no single more polarizing aesthetic than brutalism. Characterized by massive, poured-concrete forms, the fortress-like style is epitomized, at one extreme, by the Hirshhorn Museum (pictured), that giant, whimsical doughnut on the Mall that everyone seems to love.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

BRUTALISM: A love/hate relationship

At the other extreme is the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, a monolith whose owners have been battling preservationists for the right to demolish it. (In 2009, a court ruled that demolition could proceed, but it's still there.)

Michael Lutzky / The Washington Post

BRUTALISM: A love/hate relationship

But the largest single brutalist structure in the area is one that hundreds of thousands of people pass through every day, many without even thinking of it as architecture - the Metro system. Created by Harry Weese (who also designed the original Arena Stage, before its recent makeover), the system's stations are known for their iconic vaulted ceilings and distinctive coffered panels, creating a retro-futuristic look of an old sci-fi movie set. Another famous feature of the stations? They're so dark that it's almost impossible to read while waiting for a train. That's by design. Weese said he wanted to "remind commuters that they are underground."

Katherine Frey / The Washington Post

CHURCHES: Among homes, houses of worship

Like most cities, Washington has its share of stately stone steeples and stained glass. Aside from the Washington National Cathedral (pictured) and the National City Christian Church towering over Thomas Circle, there are a slew of churches along 16th Street NW alone, including the Beaux-Arts beacon that is National Baptist Memorial Church.

Nikki Kahn / The Washington Post

CHURCHES: Among homes, houses of worship

But really, the District is a city of smaller neighborhood churches -- walk two blocks in a residential area and you'll probably stumble across one -- many with predominantly black congregations. Sometimes these look like houses, tucked away amid other residences; other times they end up sandwiched between office buildings, as is the case with the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church on M Street NW, the site of Rosa Parks's memorial service. In the Shaw neighborhood, on Sunday mornings parishioners in bright hats and snappy suits flock to the Third Baptist Church (pictured) at 1546 Fifth St. NW, among many other houses of worship big and small. The red-brick Gothic Revival building is the oldest black Baptist building still standing in Washington, but its origins also are notable. The church was designed in 1893 by Calvin T. S. Brent, the first black Washingtonian to support himself as an architect.

Stephanie Merry / The Washington Post

NEON: Signs of the past still flickering

There's no shortage of grand edifices in Washington. But along with the buildings that tourists come to gawk at, the neighborhoods have shaped this city, as have the people who live in them. One element of vernacular design that has historically lent character to Washington -- and still does, even as it steadily disappears from the cityscape -- is the humble neon sign. One of the loveliest, and longest burning, is the Anacostia sign at Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. Long since separated from the accompanying word "Liquors," the 1940s-era landmark greets motorists arriving in the historic Southeast neighborhood from Interstate 295 like a porch light left on for a traveling relative.

Michael O'Sullivan / The Washington Post

NEON: Signs of the past still flickering

There are other local examples of "liquid fire" that haven't yet been extinguished. Pictured, "Bethesda" -- a remnant in blue neon of a defunct movie house -- graces the facade of the condo development that took over the space on Wisconsin Avenue. And the renovated Lincoln Theatre downtown incorporates lovely neon signage in its renovation.

James A. Parcell / The Washington Post

MODERNISM: From frumpy to fun

Beginning around World War II, the area's notoriously frumpy aesthetic began to give way, bit by bit, to modernism, a catchall style characterized by streamlined, sculptural forms and a de-emphasis on ornamentation. But aside from such neighborhoods as Northern Virginia's Hollin Hills (pictured), with its cluster of more than 400 mid-century modern homes -- all by architect Charles M. Goodman, who also designed the original National Airport -- there just aren't many other pockets of bold residential architecture.

/ Karl Ericson

MODERNISM: From frumpy to fun

One exception is the Shaw neighborhood, bordered by 12th Street, V Street and Florida Avenue NW. A rarity among inner-city Northwest neighborhoods because it's not designated a historic district (which triggers a rigorous design-approval process), the enclave has blossomed into a garden of modernist delights, mainly concentrated along 10th and 11th streets, just north of the U Street entertainment strip. Division1 Architects designed several of the buildings, such as the pictured Lacey condominiums (2250 11th St. NW). A gleaming glass box, the building is a striking departure from its nearest neighbor, the homey Florida Avenue Grill, without overwhelming it. More than a few of the newcomers look like they were built out of Legos, with cantilevered awnings, subtle touches of blue and green, and unexpected cutouts. Mixed in with much older buildings, they create a visual syncopation.

Michael O'Sullivan/The Washington Post

CASTLES: A sprinkling of fairy dust

It's fair to say that most Washingtonians are preoccupied with the current, sometimes dry, state of affairs. But somewhere beyond polling numbers and spending statistics hides a hint of fairy dust, which is manifested architecturally in the form of the city's castlelike structures. (Pictured: Smithsonian Castle)

Gerald Martineau / for The Washington Post

CASTLES: A sprinkling of fairy dust

Examples of this Romanesque Revival style dot the District, popping up on the Mall (the Smithsonian Castle), near Dupont Circle (the Brewmaster's Castle, pictured) and in Columbia Heights with the Warder Mansion by Henry Hobson Richardson, the renowned namesake of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. Wandering down the street and happening upon such a citadel is sudden and transporting, potentially prompting passersby to wonder whether Rapunzel might pop out of a window and let down her hair.

Susan Biddle / The Washington Post

CASTLES: A sprinkling of fairy dust

Dating to the 1890s, the Navy Yard Car Barn at Eighth and M streets SE might be the prime example of whimsical escapism. Not only does it feature Romanesque Revival's typical flourishes of archways, turrets and belt course brickwork, but its facade now displays alternating expanses of cornflower and baby blue, which explains its nickname, "The Blue Castle." Once the final stop on one of Washington's streetcar lines, the building, designed by Walter C. Root, has most recently housed charter schools. Owned by Madison Marquette, the 100,000-square-foot structure may soon become a retail mecca, piggybacking on the popularity of nearby Barracks Row and Nationals Park.

Jacqueline Dupree / The Washington Post

ARCHITECTS: A designer gene pool

Since opening in 1978, the East Building of the National Gallery of Art has experienced a strange phenomenon. Museum visitors regularly touch -- almost reverently, it would seem -- the letters of architect I.M. Pei's name, which is carved in stone on a wall near the information desk, along with several other names. Check it out: His name has been rubbed so often that a dark stain -- the residue of skin oils from thousands of caressing hands -- almost obscures the letters. What does this mean? It's hard to say. On the outside of the museum, the knife-edge of Pei's East Building also regularly gets fondled (and periodically cleaned). Folks just seem to crave a tactile relationship, not just with the building's strikingly angular forms, but with the man who designed them.

Michael O'Sullivan

ARCHITECTS: A designer gene pool

Since Washington's beginnings, there have been plenty of marquee names who have wanted to work here, from Benjamin Henry Latrobe (who, along with several others, helped midwife the U.S. Capitol) to Moshe Safdie (whose airy U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters (pictured) opened last year near the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge). It's really no surprise. Considering the visibility conferred by the region's steady tourist traffic and its highly educated, visually sophisticated populace, Washington has turned into an architectural destination, a place where the best -- or those who aspire to be -- compete to show off their work.

Courtesy Safdie Architects

EMBASSIES: Around the world in city limits

The foreign influence on Washington's cityscape goes well beyond Latrobe and L'Enfant. Head north along Massachusetts Avenue NW and behold a smattering of the more than 150 embassies, some of which seem to have been plucked from distant soil and planted in the nation's capital. That massive, austere box on Wisconsin Avenue that looks vaguely like a correctional facility? That would be the Russian Embassy (pictured), designed by Mikhail Posokhin, the Soviet architect behind Moscow's Grand Kremlin Palace. The daringly bizarre floating glass cube with irregular rectangular panes? Welcome -- or bem vindo -- to the Embassy of Brazil, by architect Olavo Redig de Campos.

Mario Tama

EMBASSIES: Around the world in city limits

But thank Finland for one of the most eye-catching buildings on Embassy Row, at 33rd Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW. Designed by Finns Mikko Heikkinen and Markku Komonen and built in 1994, the structure blends neat geometry with the unpredictability of nature using glass, stone, metal and greenery. The boxy embassy features turquoise windows and panels behind a gridlike cage, which is partially blanketed with lush foliage. The building also has been an environmental trailblazer. It was the first embassy to receive the EPA's Energy Star rating, in 2008, as well as the first LEED certification in 2010.

Heli Nissinen / Embassy of Finland in Washington D.C.

HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS: O say can you see?

When it comes to city skylines, Washington's has the divisive distinction of being among the shortest. For some locals, the city's height restriction, first enacted by Congress in 1899, means a less claustrophobic existence that allows for visibility of our most distinguished landmarks, including the Washington Monument (555 feet), the Capitol dome (289 feet) and the Lincoln Memorial (98 feet). For the sake of comparison, the Empire State Building stands at 1,454 feet. For opponents of the policy, including D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray, the city's squat stature equates to exorbitant rents and overpriced real estate. The debate rages to determine whether the height restrictions will be eased or not, but either way, they have undoubtedly shaped the look and feel of Washington.

Toni L. Sandys / The Washington Post

HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS: O say can you see?

The debate began after the construction of an 1894 apartment building that looked conspicuously un-Washington with its Art Nouveau lettering, sporadically arched windows and an irregularly recessed facade featuring lavishly detailed reliefs. Designed by Thomas Franklin Schneider, the 12-story, 160-foot Cairo (pictured), at 1615 Q St. NW, caused an uproar upon its completion, for reasons ranging from aesthetics to safety concerns. Congress stepped in with legislation in 1899 and 1910 capping building heights - for the most part, 90 feet for residential buildings and 130 feet for commercial structures.

Tom Allen / The Washington Post

HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS: O say can you see?

Only a handful of buildings have attained exemptions, which explains why the Washington National Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (pictured) make such mountainous statements. But the Cairo, now a condo building, is where it all began. It still towers over Q Street with its outlandish ornamentation, not to mention a rooftop that, thanks to the law, remains one of the best places to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

FEDERAL BUILDINGS: The good, the bad and the ugly

So often an industry dictates pockets of a city's architecture. While Pittsburgh touts converted factories and warehouses, and New York scrapes the sky with banker-filled high rises, Washington has imposing federal buildings. Many such structures demonstrate the neoclassical design so beloved by the Founding Fathers (look no further than the National Archives and the Supreme Court). More recent federal buildings tip their hat to politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose 1962 report to then-president John F. Kennedy, "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture," advocated for integrating fine art into building designs, avoiding a standard style and employing distinguished contemporary talent. The result was progressive-at-the-time modernist buildings, such as the U.S. Tax Court (pictured) on Second Street NW (between D and E streets), designed by architect Victor A. Lundy. The court complex, composed of a cantilevered central structure between blocklike bookends, faces a spacious plaza with rows of trees and benches.

/ Amanda Abrams

FEDERAL BUILDINGS: The good, the bad and the ugly

Washingtonians love a good debate, of course, which brings us to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (formerly the Old Executive Office Building). Between Alfred Mullett's first sketches and the building's completion in 1888, its busy French Second Empire style had become passe. Washingtonians at the time collectively slapped their foreheads; even Mark Twain called it "the ugliest building in America." But, to some extent, criticism has waned over time. The building escaped demolition in 1958 (when former president Harry Truman dubbed it "the greatest monstrosity in America"), and some Washingtonians have even grown to love the White House's neighbor, appreciating the incongruous oddity with the mansard roof.

Ken Cedeno

OUTDOOR SPACE: Where parks are central

Urban planners like to talk about the "third place," a reference to those public spaces that are neither home nor work, but where people gather to create community. The city of Washington always has had a soft spot in its heart for such areas, which include parks and public plazas. (That's literally true in the case of Rock Creek Park, designed by pioneering landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. It runs, arterially, through the heart of the city, lending credence to Washington's reputation as the "City of Trees.")

Ann Cameron Siegal / for The Washington Post

OUTDOOR SPACE: Where parks are central

The equally central-sounding Meridian Hill Park (commonly known as Malcolm X Park) -- so named because its 12 acres lie on a north-south axis running through the District's original milestone marker -- is, on sunny weekends, pulsing with almost carnival-like activity. Bicyclists and dog walkers mingle with picnickers, yoga practitioners, jugglers, tightrope walkers and participants in the now-famous Sunday afternoon drum circle, whose throbbing rhythms create a heartbeat that can be heard for blocks. Designed by George Burnap and executed by Horace Peaslee, the park's two-tiered layout, whose central feature is a cascading fountain, may be neoclassical, but the vibe is hip and modern. The first park to be designated a National Historic Landmark in the designed landscape category, Meridian Hill is, along with such newer entries as Yards Park in Southeast, evidence of an enduring civic commitment to open spaces.

Michael O'Sullivan / The Washington Post

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More than monumental: Washington’s tallest, grandest, shiniest and brutalist buildings

Washington’s architecture mixes myriad styles in a unique setting of public and private spaces. By Michael O’Sullivan and Stephanie Merry.