Completed in 1800, The White House is the oldest public building in Washington, DC and has been the home of every president except George Washington.
After the federal government was established in Washington, the court was housed in a basement room in the US Capitol until 1929, when Chief Justice Taft argued successfully for their own building.
The Capitol is among the most architecturally impressive and symbolically important buildings in the world. Begun in 1793, the Capitol has been built, burnt, rebuilt, extended, and restored.
Opened in 1941, this museum, founded by financier Andrew Mellon, has some 116,000 works of Western art dating from the Middle Ages to the modern era.
The museum first opened in 1964, and among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz.
The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the "increase and diffusion" of knowledge from a bequest to the United States by the British scientist James Smithson, who had never visited the US himself.
The pool, measuring some 2,000 feet long, was built soon after the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial; both were designed by architect Henry Bacon.
Construction began in 1914, and the memorial was opened to the public in 1922. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd by the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 .
President Roosevelt asked the Commission of Fine Arts about the possibility of erecting a memorial to Thomas Jefferson. Construction went from 1938-43, & Roosevelt laid the first cornerstone himself.
The Washington Monument was formally dedicated on February 22, 1885, and at the time of its construction, it was the tallest building in the world; it remains the tallest stone structure in the world.
Did you know? The arboretum has a National State Tree Grove, where all 50 official state trees are represented - each acquired from the state it represents. The oak is the official tree of the U.S. Read more.
Did you know? An Act of Congress created the National Zoo in 1889. It was intended in part to serve as a refuge for native wildlife, such as bison and beaver, that were vanishing from North America. Read more.
Did you know? The gardens were founded in part to house plants acquired by the Wilkes Expedition to the South and Central Pacific. It was on this voyage that Antarctica was confirmed to be a continent Read more.
