What the Capitol Says: American Neoclassicism
...established through the timeless principles of liberty and order...
Paris Notre-Dame: What the Fire Revealed
I have stood inside Notre-Dame three times, and each time it has been a different building. The first time I stood inside the cathedral was…
The Space Needle: What Was Gained, What Was Lost
The Space Needle was never meant to last. Built in 110 days for the 1962 World's Fair — a fair whose theme was Century 21, meaning…
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La Lonja de la Seda: Valencia’s Temple of Trade
Light streams between a forest of spiral stone columns. Each one twists upward, branching into a delicate web of ribbed groin vaults overhead — the…
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From Overload to Awe in Vatican City
Vatican City contains the greatest concentration of human artistic achievement on earth. It also contains, on any given morning, thirty thousand other people who know…
How to Visit Vatican City
Vatican City is the world's smallest country — an independent city-state entirely surrounded by Rome, home to the Pope, the Catholic Church's central administration, and…
The Eiffel Tower: What the City Rejected, Then Claimed
We had been here before, Aaron and I, in a different Paris — before the fence, before the glass walls, before the security lines. That…
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Hearst Castle
This lavish estate, inspired by Spanish Colonial and Mission style architecture, was the ultimate achievement of architect, Julia Morgan. The Hearst Castle remains a symbol of…
Monticello: On What Jefferson Borrowed and Why
Jefferson called it his "essay in architecture" — and like most essays, it was revised continually, for most of his adult life, in pursuit of…
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The Loire Valley: Châteaux, River Towns, and Three Nights at Artigny
I had researched the Loire Valley châteaux for two separate high school French essays before I ever stood in front of one. We left Paris…
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