today · all-time

Today's Popular Photos


 Lucky you! It's a new day - go vote for your favorite photos!

Gallery pages:   1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>

Recent Galleries

Washington D.C. Favorites :

Washington D.C. Favorites

CreoleRoad

Updated: Jul 22, 2008 9:03pm PST

Lincoln Theatre : Lincoln Theater, 1215 U St NW, Washington, DC, July 18 and July 11, 2008

Lincoln Theatre

TimBrown

Lincoln Theater, 1215 U St NW, Washington, DC, July 18 and July 11, 20 ...

Updated: Jul 19, 2008 6:04am PST

Washington DC 2005 : Washington, D.C. (formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C.) is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington used to be a separate municipality within the District of Columbia. An Act of Congress in 1871 created a single government for the entire federal territory, effectively merging the City and the District into a single entity. The District of Columbia is located on the north bank of the Potomac River and is bordered by the states of Maryland to the northwest, northeast, and southeast and Virginia to the southwest. The District has a resident population of 588,292; however, its population rises to over one million people during the workweek, due to commuters from the surrounding suburbs. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District of Columbia is a part, has a population of 5.3 million, the eighth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Cityscape Washington, D.C. is a planned city. In 1791, Pierre L'Enfant drew up a basic plan modeled in the Baroque style, which incorporated broad avenues radiating out from traffic circles, providing for maximum open space and landscaping. However, at the start of the 20th century, L'Enfant's vision of a capital with open parks and grand national monuments had become marred by slums and randomly-placed buildings, including a railroad station on the National Mall. In 1900, Congress formed a joint committee, headed by Senator James McMillan, charged with beautifying Washington's ceremonial core. What became known as the McMillan Plan was finalized in 1901, and included the re-landscaping of the Capitol grounds and Mall, constructing new Federal buildings and monuments, clearing slums, and establishing a new citywide park system. Architects recruited by the committee kept the city's original layout, and their work is thought to be the grand completion of L'Enfant's intended design. After the construction of the twelve-story Cairo Apartment Building in 1899, Congress passed the Heights of Buildings Act, which declared that no building could be taller than the Capitol. The Act was amended in 1910 to restrict building height to the width of the adjacent street plus 20 feet (6.1 m). Today the skyline remains low and sprawling, in keeping with Thomas Jefferson's wishes to make Washington an "American Paris" with "low and convenient" buildings on "light and airy" streets. As a result, the Washington Monument remains the District's tallest structure. However, Washington's height restriction has been assailed as a primary reason why the city has limited affordable housing and traffic problems as a result of urban sprawl. To escape the District's height restriction, taller buildings close to downtown are often constructed across the Potomac River in Rosslyn, Virginia. The District is divided into four quadrants of unequal area: Northwest (NW); Northeast (NE); Southeast (SE); and Southwest (SW). The axes bounding the quadrants radiate from the U.S. Capitol building. All road names include the quadrant abbreviation to indicate their location. In most of the city, the streets are set out in a grid pattern with east-west streets named with letters (e.g. C Street SW) and north-south streets with numbers (e.g. 4th Street NW). The avenues radiating from the traffic circles are primarily named after the states; all 50 states are included in the street nomenclature. As the city grew, the streets were simply extended, where possible. Some Washington streets are particularly noteworthy such as Pennsylvania Avenue, which connects the White House with the Capitol, and K Street, which houses the offices of many lobbying groups. Washington hosts 172 foreign embassies, 57 of which are located on a section of Massachusetts Avenue informally known as Embassy Row. Architecture The architecture of Washington, D.C. varies greatly. Six of the top ten buildings in the American Institute of Architects' 2007 ranking of "America's Favorite Architecture" are located in the District of Columbia, including: the White House; the Washington National Cathedral; the Thomas Jefferson Memorial; the United States Capitol; the Lincoln Memorial; and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The neoclassical, Georgian, gothic, and modern architectural styles are all reflected among those six buildings and many other prominent government buildings in Washington. Notable exceptions include buildings constructed in the French Second Empire style such as the Old Executive Office Building and Library of Congress. Outside downtown Washington, architectural styles are even more varied. In parts of the "Old City" (the area planned by L'Enfant), historic buildings are designed primarily in the Queen Anne, Châteauesque, Richardsonian Romanesque, Georgian revival, and Beaux-Arts styles, as well as other varieties of Victorian architecture. Rowhouses from the 19th century are especially prominent in areas of the Old City and typically follow "Federalist" and late Victorian designs. Georgetown has the most cohesive architecture in the city; most homes reflect the late Victorian style from the 1870s. Georgetown University, however, is more distinct, with a mix of Romanesque and Gothic Revival architecture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_D.C.

Washington DC 2005

wanderwoman

Washington, D.C. (formally the District of Columbia and commonly refer ...

Updated: Jul 18, 2008 9:22pm PST

Fireworks - Washington DC - Iwo Jima Memorial - July 4th 2007 : July 4th 2007 Washington DC Fireworks from the Iwo Jima Memorial

Fireworks - Washington DC - Iwo Jima ...

gb2379

July 4th 2007 Washington DC Fireworks from the Iwo Jima Memorial

Updated: Jul 18, 2008 3:47pm PST

Around DC - Summer 2008 :

Around DC - Summer 2008

Rob Page III

Updated: Jul 15, 2008 7:57pm PST

Washington DC :

Washington DC

Anatoly

Updated: Jul 11, 2008 6:13pm PST

Fall Favorites : Some of my favorite shots from the fall of 2005. Please enjoy.

Fall Favorites

Rob Page III

Some of my favorite shots from the fall of 2005. Please enjoy.

Updated: Jul 08, 2008 5:59pm PST

Around Town : Springtime comes to the District and the city begins to bloom!

Around Town

Rob Page III

Springtime comes to the District and the city begins to bloom!

Updated: Jul 08, 2008 4:05pm PST

4th of July 2008 :

4th of July 2008

DemingPhoto

Updated: Jul 07, 2008 7:29pm PST

Washington DC Misc 4/2008 :

Washington DC Misc 4/2008

DemingPhoto

Updated: Jul 07, 2008 6:43pm PST

Gallery pages:   1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>

Search WashingtonDC