Official Washington

Local lore has it that no building in Washington, D.C., can be higher than the US Capitol (or is it the Washington Monument?), but the real reason behind the federal Height of Buildings Act (1910) was the reach of fire-fighting equipment at the time the legislation was enacted. Under the Act, the maximum height of buildings in the city is limited to the width of the street plus twenty feet. The long-range effect of this law is that the city has a decidedly horizontal skyline. That in turn means that the two tallest federal structures, the aforementioned Capitol and the Monument, can be seen from many locations around the city, even from miles away.

I had been working at Georgetown University, commuting into the city from suburban Maryland, for eight years before I realized that the people who live and work in Washington have a completely different visual experience of these and the Capital City's many other historic buildings and memorials than do the tourists and other visitors. Postcard images of the these structures isolate them from their surroundings, but those who live here regularly see them surrounded by traffic, poking up above roof lines, and seen at the far end of long avenues. It reminded me of Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, and in 2000 I began photographing these familiar strucrtures in that unfamiliar manner. In the process I revisited over the years some of the same views as the city has changed.

I started photographing "official" Washington at the South end of the East/West dividing line, where South Capitol St crossed the Anacostia River over the old Frederick Douglass Bridge. I took these views from that bridge in 2000. They show what a visitor to Our Nation's Capital would have first seen when driving into the city from that direction 25 years ago. The Capitol dome rises in the far distance, just as it did in the view from the North, but in this case, the area between the dome and the viewer is filled with old warehouses and gritty light industrial operations, including a concrete supplier whose facilities sat right on the riverfront. The second photo shows the historic Navy Yard waterfront on the Anacostia River, adjacent to the area in the first photo.

A few years can make a huge difference. In this 2009 photo taken from aproximately the same location, the Capitol dome can barely be seen in the distance, just to the right of center, squeezed in between the new Nationals baseball stadium and other new buildings. This image covers the same area of the waterfront as the two previous photos: the brick building built out over the water can be seen in both the old and new views. In the intervening years most of the area's old construction has been replaced with new apartment buildings, hotels, and retail spaces, but as you can see, the concrete company's operations are still standing on prime property, right on the waterfront, next to the new stadium.

Now jump another 15 years to 2024. This view was taken from the new Douglass bridge, as close to the same spot over the river as I could get. Still more new apartment buildings have been built on the land formerly occupied by the concrete company. These new buildings now block not only the view of the Capitol dome, but that of the Washington Nationals stadium itself. Large hotels and apartment buildings have also been build north of the stadium, between N and I ("Eye") Streets SE. Now you can't see the Capitol until you swing around a large traffic circle near the stadium (off to the left, just out of this picture) and turn up South Capitol St. The dome then rises up straight ahead of you.

Here is a notable example of the development north of the stadium. This “before" view was taken in 2011 at the intersection of South Capitol St. and I St. SE., including the entrance to the Southeast / Southwest Freeway (I-695, which turns into southbound I-395). As you can see, a McDonald's claims this prime location just a few blocks from the Capitol.

Here is the "after" picture of that same intersection today. The empty lot that I stood in to take the earlier pamorama is now the site of a self-described "luxury" apartment building, located behind me and to my right as I took this photo. Similarly, the McDonald's has been replaced by the apartment complex seen here on the right. The entrance to the Interstate remains unchanged. 2024

These three photos provide striking evidence of the changes in this area over the past 25 years. All were all shot at the intersection of L and Half Streets SE. The first image was shot in 2002. If you click on it you can see the Capitol dome rising above a long row of warehouses. This area was filled with similar utilitarian structures, relics of its history as part of a working waterfront.

In the second photo, from 2011, the warehouses to the left have been replaced with a sleek office building with a glass curtain wall exterior. The red and blue-painted brick buildings on the right have been removed, providing a clear view of a new high-rise brick-clad apartment building. You can still see the Capitol dome, but it appears to huddle between the two new buildings and behind the Capitol Power Plant. 

The third image was shot in March 2026. The Capitol dome is no longer visible and once the trees are in full leaf, even the Power Plant's chimneys will be out of sight. The far apartment tower visible in the second photo is now hidden by many more like it: new apartment buildings now completely cover this area.

In the intervening years, my equipment and technique have evolved along with all the new construction. The first photo was shot on film with the workhorse Calumet 4x5 that I have had since the early 1970s. The second photo was shot with a Phase One digital back mounted on an Arca Swiss 6x9. The third was shot with a Leica M11-P.

The Lincoln Memorial has a low profile and can best be seen head-on, standing at the far end of the Reflecting Pool. From the surrounding streets,

it can almost seem to be hidden. This view of the Monument's South side is from the intersection of 23rd St SW and Independence Ave. 2021

Continuing on Independence Ave, you curve around the Lincoln Memorial to its Northwest corner, where the street turns into Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway NW. Once again, the Monument seems to be hiding behind the trees and shrubbery. 2021

Other views from the National Mall