Washington: Symbol and City

until saturday december 31 2011
National Building Museum
T : +1 202.272.2448
401 F Street NW
20001 Washington DC
United States

Exhibitions Coordinator
Hank Griffith
T : +1 202.272 3700
hgriffith@nbm.org

Visitor services
John Bane
T : +1 202.272 3559
jbane@nbm.org
www.nbm.org

This exhibition explores how residents experience the city and how Washington itself expresses the tension between the demands of a working siege of government and the desire for a national symbol, and the hopes and needs of an evolving city.

Created by the government, for the government, Washington was bound to differ from other American cities. Here, the local needs that all cities share — for housing, transportation, water and power utilities, commercial centers, and community institutions — are directly in competition with national priorities. More than half a million residents now live in the District, in more than 100 neighborhoods.