Architecture
22 places · Historic buildings & remarkable streetscapes
Washington DC, DC
Eastern Market
DC's oldest continuously operating public market, with a vibrant outdoor flea market on weekends, fresh produce stalls, and colorful street life on Capitol Hill.
Washington DC, DC
Smithsonian Sculpture Garden
Contemporary sculpture set around a central fountain and skating rink on the National Mall - Claes Oldenburg's Typewriter Eraser and Louise Bourgeois's Spider are highlights.
Baltimore, MD
Fort McHenry
The star-shaped fortification where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star-Spangled Banner sits at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor with stunning panoramic water views.
Leesburg, VA
Leesburg Historic District
One of Virginia's best-preserved colonial streetscapes, Leesburg's Market Street and King Street corridors feature 18th and 19th century brick storefronts, church steeples, and the grand Loudoun County Courthouse complex.
Staunton, VA
Staunton Historic District
One of the best-preserved Victorian commercial districts in the South, Staunton's Beverley Street and Gospel Hill neighborhood feature ornate 19th-century architecture virtually unchanged since the Gilded Age.
Frederick, MD
Frederick Historic District
Maryland's second-largest city preserves one of the finest collections of 18th and 19th-century commercial and residential architecture on the East Coast, with 50 blocks of intact streetscapes along Carroll Creek and Market Street.
St. Michaels, MD
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
The museum campus on Miles River harbor houses an 1879 screwpile lighthouse, historic workboats, and a crab deck with panoramic bay views - the lighthouse standing in the water at golden hour is one of Maryland's signature images.
Annapolis, MD
Maryland State House
The oldest state capitol building in continuous legislative use, crowned by the largest wooden dome in the US built without nails - a colonial architecture masterpiece.
Baltimore, MD
Fells Point Waterfront
Baltimore's oldest neighborhood mixes colonial cobblestones, 18th-century rowhouses, a working waterfront, and some of the most charming street photography opportunities in the region.
Ellicott City, MD
Historic Ellicott City
One of the oldest mill towns in America clings to a steep granite gorge above the Patapsco River - 19th-century stone buildings and the oldest railroad station in the country.
Mount Vernon, VA
Mount Vernon Estate
George Washington's plantation overlooks the Potomac from a commanding hilltop - formal gardens, 18th-century outbuildings, and the mansion's iconic colonnaded piazza.
Fredericksburg, VA
Fredericksburg Historic District
A remarkably intact colonial and Civil War era streetscape along the Rappahannock River - the most unspoiled antebellum commercial district in Virginia.
Washington DC, DC
National Cathedral
The sixth-largest cathedral in the world crowns the highest point in DC. Gothic spires, intricate stonework, and stained glass make it a paradise for architectural photography.
Lorton, VA
Gunston Hall
George Mason's 1755 Potomac plantation is less visited than Mount Vernon but arguably more elegant - the boxwood allee leading to the river is one of colonial America's finest garden settings.
Charlottesville, VA
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop estate is a masterpiece of American neoclassical architecture - the iconic west facade with its signature dome, formal gardens, and sweeping views of Charlottesville and the Blue Ridge.
Washington DC, DC
Library of Congress - Great Hall
The most ornate interior in Washington - a Beaux-Arts explosion of marble, mosaics, gilded arches, and a painted dome that rivals European opera houses.
Washington DC, DC
Union Station
Daniel Burnham's Beaux-Arts masterpiece features a 96-foot barrel vault ceiling, arched windows, and a grand concourse that feels more Roman bath than train station.
Alexandria, VA
Torpedo Factory Art Center
A converted WWII munitions factory houses 82 working artist studios open to the public - an industrial building made luminous by natural light and creative energy.
Luray, VA
Luray Caverns
The largest cavern system in the eastern US features towering stalactites, massive columns, and the world's only stalacpipe organ - a cathedral of geology underground.
Washington DC, DC
National Building Museum Interior
The Great Hall of this 1887 Pension Building soars 159 feet with the largest Corinthian columns in the world - a cavernous interior that has hosted presidential inaugurations.
Washington DC, DC
Kogod Courtyard
A stunning undulating glass canopy by Norman Foster shelters the courtyard of the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. The wave-pattern roof casts extraordinary moving shadows throughout the day.
Washington DC, DC
Basilica of the National Shrine
The largest Catholic church in North America combines Romanesque and Byzantine architecture in a breathtaking mosaic-covered interior. The Great Dome and 329-foot bell tower anchor a campus of extraordinary spiritual and photographic interest.