Downtown Washington, D.C.

Downtown Washington, D.C. is the central business district in the northwest quadrant of the District of Columbia, the capital city of the United States of America.

Location
Geographically, Downtown Washington is often broadly considered to be anything north of Constitution Avenue NW, east of Rock Creek Park, south of M Street NW, and west of the U.S. Capitol. Indeed, the area east of the Capitol and north of Massachusetts Avenue is also sometimes called "Downtown East". However, that geographical area actually includes as many as nine separate neighborhoods, including Foggy Bottom, West End, Penn Quarter, Mount Vernon Square, Chinatown, Sursum Corda, Judiciary Square, Swampoodle, and NoMa.

Thus the boundaries of the Downtown district, subtracting the above-mentioned neighborhoods, are somewhat irregular and difficult to define. The core of the area lies roughly between Constitution Avenue to the south, M Street to the north, 17th Street to the west, and 12th Street to the east. North of Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and extending five additional blocks west of 17th Street to 22nd, is also considered "downtown." On the east, and south of Pennsylvania, another section of the business district stretches seven blocks to the intersection of Pennsylvania and Constitution, forming a triangular group of government buildings known as the "Federal Triangle". 

Some estimates define the area around the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and K Street NW as a separate neighborhood, appropriately called Connecticut Avenue/K Street. However, this intersection is actually very much the heart of Washington's business center; since "downtown" is defined as a city's central business district, the K Street/Connecticut Avenue area is, by definition, part of Downtown Washington.

Character
The core of the downtown district east of Foggy Bottom, west of Penn Quarter, and south of Massachusetts Avenue is almost exclusively commercial. The Penn Quarter has recently become an entertainment district with numerous retail, restaurant, and theater options. Foggy Bottom is dominated by midrise apartment buildings and George Washington University.

Cityscape
The vast majority of Downtown Washington is composed of office buildings, of varying architectural styles. The oldest of tend to be of the Federal school, as are the White House, the U.S. Treasury, Blair House, and the rowhouses that line Lafayette Square. Others run the gamut from Neoclassical (e.g., the buildings at Federal Triangle) to Second Empire Style (the Eisenhower Executive Office Building) to postmodern (One Franklin Square).

Height restriction
Unlike other large cities in the US, Washington's downtown has a low skyline. With the advent of the skyscraper and the construction of the Cairo Hotel, residents were concerned that the city's European feel might be dwarfed in high-rise buildings. Congress therefore passed the "Heights of Buildings Act" in 1899, restricting any new building in Washington from exceeding the height of the U.S. Capitol. The act was amended in 1910 to allow buildings to be 20 feet (6 m) higher than the width of the adjacent street. 

As of 2006, the tallest building in downtown Washington (excluding the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol, Washington National Cathedral, and National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, all of which are outside of the downtown district) is the Old Post Office, whose 315-foot-tall (96 m) clock tower looms far above the other nearby structures. Built in 1899, it was grandfathered past the Heights of Buildings Act. The tallest commercial building is One Franklin Square at 210 feet (64 m). 

Parks and public squares
A number of public urban parks punctuate the downtown area. Four are particularly prominent: The Ellipse, Farragut Square Park, Franklin Square Park, and McPherson Square.

The President's Park is the name of the grounds of the White House, which includes Lafayette Square between H Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. This is a private park, except for Lafayette Square, which is open to the public.

A small paved square, Freedom Plaza, sits on Pennsylvania Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets. It is a frequent site of outdoor concerts, protests, and political rallies.