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Darkstar's Washington, DC (June, 2009)

JasonParis

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I was in Washington, DC for a conference back in June. Unfortunately, I had very little time to see the city, but here's a few things I did get to see...

The US Capitol from a rainy National Mall.
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I.M. Pei's fabulous east wing of the National Gallery of Art. The sharp edge of the building has recently been fenced-off to prevent people from touching the edge as they had been doing for years.
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In the foyer of the east (contemporary) wing of the National Gallery sits an early Richard Serra titled "Five Plates, Two Poles" (1971).
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Inside the National Gallery's East Wing.
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Much like Pei's addition to La Louvre in Paris, triangles, glass, pyramids, stone and concrete are the order of the day. This wing was completed in 1978.
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One of Alexander Calder's mobiles hangs high above the main space of the National Gallery of Art.
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Some sort of beehive-like installation outside the window of the National Gallery of Art.
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The National Gallery of Art (cont.)...
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Linking the west building and the east building is an underground concourse that goes under Washington's 4th Street. The moving walkway is currently surrounded by "Multiverse" (a year long exhibition by artist Leo Villareal that features LED technology). As far as I'm concerned it should be made permanent.
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Still in the concourse level is this waterfall that I actually remember from a Grade 7 class trip to Washington, DC.
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A view of I.M. Pei's East Building from the original 1937 West Building.
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The West Building has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures by European masters from the medieval period through the late 19th century. It is also home to some very tasteful indoor courtyards which proved a perfect retreat from the spring rain.
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The centrepiece of the main floor of the National Gallery's West Building.
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The National Gallery's West Bulding (cont.)
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Across 7th Street sits the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. This is an installation from Sol LeWitt (1997)
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Alexander Calder's "Cheval Rouge" (1974)
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Louise Bourgeois' "Spider" (1997)
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's "Typewaiter Eraser, Scale X" (1999)
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As we walked back toward The Willard we came across the IRS building that reads over the doors..."Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society."
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The Old Post Office Pavilion.
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The Old Post Office Pavilion (cont.)...
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Inside the Old Post Office Pavilion. It now houses a pretty dated and tourist-centric shopping mall unfortunately.
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In the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue is Pershing Park that actually has the grid of Washington, DC built into the park.
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Pershing Park (cont.)
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A few pics from the lobby of the Willard InterContinental Hotel. This is where we stayed and where my conference was being held. It is considered one of the most storied hotels in the United States and this very lobby is where the term "lobbyist" originated.
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The Willard InterContinental (cont.)...
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Then it was over to Washington's monumental Union Station to catch our train to Philly.
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Union Station (cont.)...
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And a final pic from DC as we board our electric high-speed Amtrak "Acela Express" train to Philadelphia. It was a perfectly European experience, but not quite as fast as many European services.
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Hope you enjoyed. Next stop Philly!
 
Last edited:
Super pictures. Washington is not my favourite city, but it has to be well up on anyone's list for interesting architecture, some of which you have shown quite well.
 
They like their buildings to impress; it is a Capital after all. One of my customers - Gannett - has a head office with a lobby 1/3 the size of Pearson T3.
 
Amazing city, thanks for the pics!
I agree that that moving walkway should be made permanently. Underground walkways add to the urban experience imo. I love the park on Pennsylvannia Avenue with the grid built into it.

One of the creators of this sculpture is Dutch (Coosje van Bruggen), her husband is the co-creator, Claes van Oldenburg (a Swede). It is also found in Seattle in the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park along the waterfront in Downtown.

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photo by b gallatin at flickr.
 
DK416: Good Quick pics of Washington,DC. -

DK416: Good tour of Washington on what was not the best day to take pics!
I remember the National Galleries,Old Post Office (Is the Tower still open?)
and Pershing Park - Good pic of the Old Post Office there.
The Inter-Continental Hotel is a classy place...

Union Station is quite a neat place - it is hard to believe it has been 20 years
since it re-opened after a major renovation in the late 80s after the ill-fated
conversion to be the National Visitors Center for the US Bicentennial and its
languish afterwards despite the growing importance of rail traffic into DC.
Any hassle taking pics there or on Amtrak property?
Thoughts by LI MIKE
 
DK416: Good tour of Washington on what was not the best day to take pics!
I remember the National Galleries,Old Post Office (Is the Tower still open?)
and Pershing Park - Good pic of the Old Post Office there.
The Inter-Continental Hotel is a classy place...

Union Station is quite a neat place - it is hard to believe it has been 20 years
since it re-opened after a major renovation in the late 80s after the ill-fated
conversion to be the National Visitors Center for the US Bicentennial and its
languish afterwards despite the growing importance of rail traffic into DC.
Any hassle taking pics there or on Amtrak property?
Thoughts by LI MIKE
LI M,

I believe the tower is still open, but we didn't go up.

Curious, where was Washington's train station the years that NVC had Union?
 
Washington Union Station...

DK416: There was a smaller station area built behind the arched concourse in the mid 70s that housed the station that in time proved to be inadequate to
handle the growing rail traffic into Washington on Amtrak and MARC trains.

The station itself deteriorated substantially into the 80s after the close of the ill-fated National Visitors Center and I recall when stonework fell to the ground
outside one of the side porticos they had to be closed to address a problem.

The arched concourse had fallen into disrepair enough that it was exposed to the outside in spots and was becoming a haven for homeless people among other problems.

I remember going there after the renovation was completed and I was just in awe of how well that Washington Union was restored.

Thoughts from LI MIKE
 
DK416: There was a smaller station area built behind the arched concourse in the mid 70s that housed the station that in time proved to be inadequate to handle the growing rail traffic into Washington on Amtrak and MARC trains.
Ahhh, that makes total sense. We had actually noticed that the part of the station where there actually are trains seemed very 1970s dated and not part of the building's recent rejuvination (which was sort of disappointing as it sort of shows that Union Station is basically more about retail than transportation).
 
Yeah, that's what has always confused me about DC Union being held up as a model for TO Union. It's basically a very nice, if poorly located mall with a train station tacked onto the back.

Now St. Pancras, that's a train station.
 

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