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This 1897 building is among the finest Beaux Arts designs in the United States. Note the atrium with its exquisite symmetrical stairway. The art collection inside includes some of the very best of American and European masterworks. In the American art collection, works by the Hudson River School and the Luminists are especially strong.

This is another Second Empire building, but on a mammoth scale. Many people consider its highly embellished style and daunting proportions – 300,000 sq ft (27,871 sq m) of office space on five stories – to be magnificent, but Mark Twain called it “the ugliest building in America.” The Departments of State, Navy, and War were housed here on its completion in 1888. Today it is home to offices for executive branch employees and the vice president.

Another gleaming white design by Paul P. Cret, architect of the Folger Shakespeare Library (see Folger Shakespeare Library and Theater). The Federal Reserve System is the central banking authority in the United States, regulating and facilitating both banking and the flow of currency and financial transactions.

A memorial to President John F. Kennedy, this huge performance complex – the largest in the country – presents the best expressions of the artistic culture he loved so well. National and international stars perform opera, concerts, musical comedy, drama, jazz, dance, and ballet, and even experimental multimedia productions. Located overlooking the Potomac, its terraces and rooftop restaurant have dazzling views.

The OAS’s beautiful building, with its three round-topped arches, is one of the area’s architectural delights. The OAS Art Museum of the Americas has a permanent collection of Western Hemisphere art that is one of the most important in the US. The Organization of American States is a cooperative association of all 35 countries of the hemisphere to promote economic development, protect human rights, and strengthen democracy.