The first memorial dedicated solely to the Black troops who fought for the Union.

It was once the base for a series of domestic terror attacks.

A secret greenspace hides atop a Capitol parking garage.

One critic described it as "middle Mussolini, early Ramses, and late Neiman-Marcus." Another called it an architectural "natural disaster."

An unassuming, powerful monument north of the U.S. Capitol bears witness to the resilience of Japanese Americans during a time of grave injustice.

Home to a vast and influential collection of Shakespeareana.

Housing the National Women's Party since 1929, this historic house is now a monument to the fight for gender equality.

A gorgeous mural outside a beloved D.C. restaurant pays homage to famous Black Americans.

For 60 years, the academy had no permanent location until members voted Washington D.C. as its forever home.

A hidden gem on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

Long-abandoned trolley tunnels just a mile away from the White House are turning into an art space.

The trials and tribulations of marking Poe's grave.

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

The grand marble structure next to the White House is Andrew Carnegie's temple to Pan-American diplomacy.

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution written entirely from vanity license plates hangs in the Smithsonian museum.

A hidden passageway now marks the site of an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan that some say broke a 140-year-old curse.

An overlooked memorial honoring the local Washington residents who died in World War I.

Need a hardcopy of the 50-title Code of Federal Regulations? This is the place.

This mysterious structure by the Washington Monument is a flood barrier designed to protect the White House against rising waters.

This seemingly out-of-place gas station by the Watergate hotel was once described as the most expensive gas station in the world.

Before Metro, Washington had a robust streetcar network—and you see the remains of this infrastructure if you know where to look.

A building shaped like the Army Corps of Engineers logo, because why not?

This unacceptably tall building was the real reason for Washington, D.C.'s skyscraper ban.

This sandwich shop has a century-old elevator behind a sheet of plexiglass.