AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, DC Paperback – 23 Jan. 2023

Many of AIA city architecture guide books are wonderful. They are a source of knowledge, and rarely sometimes, source of inspiration.This book is just like the Latter.I guess the strength of this book is that the author is a long-time resident of DC, fully aware of the DC's urban history and development.Second, these kind of guide books could easily fall into a compilation of individual building's detail knowledge, making the read burdensome, unless an authoris well balanced and a great story teller.The book will be much more interesting readif one has some knowledge on lengfant, george washington's canal building ambition, and competition between canal building B&O railroad building.

I don't much like DC, with its pretensions to a European capital and overblown pomposity, but that does not change the fact that this is an excellent book.As a long-time former resident of the city, I owned the previous two editions of this book too, and I can say that they just keep getting better. The building selection is not exhaustive, but it is certainly a critically-chosen representative sample. All the historic landmark sites you expect to find are here. Every entry includes a least one black and white photograph. The photographs are small, and are not the feature of the book. Do not buy expecting anything like a coffee table book of glossy photographs.Complete architectural provenance is included with each entry. The short descriptions with the buildings are concerned mostly with exteriors, and interiors are not discussed except where they are extraordinary. Buildings are grouped into "tours" by geographic area. One thing missing from the book that is almost essential for a guide like this is the landmark status for each entry.A few older buildings have been dropped from the catalog in order to make room for some important modern sites, but it's not intrusive. In fact, I think it enhances the book. The physical volume itself is a sturdy, gloss paper handbook of high quality.

Washington really is a fascinating city, with many wonderful buildings and sites, and Martin Moeller combines deep architectural knowledge with sharp and witty commentary to produce an essential guide for both visitors and residents. I particularly appreciate his neighborhood tour approach, and would expect nothing less from the American Institute of Architects. OK, OK, I know it's about Washington, DC, but I wish the book had added a few pages to include "Washington" sites like Mount Vernon, the Pentagon, National and Dulles Airports, etc. After all, some of those places are inside the original Federal City boundaries.