Washington Monument
- Architects
- Robert Mills United States Army Corps of Engineers Thomas Lincoln Casey, Sr.
- Year
- 1848
- Style
- Egyptian Revival
- City
- Washington, DC
The Washington Monument is a 555-foot obelisk on the National Mall built to commemorate George Washington and designed by Robert Mills, with construction starting in 1848. The project stalled from 1854 to 1877 over funding shortfalls, a struggle for control of the Washington National Monument Society, and the Civil War; when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Thomas Lincoln Casey Sr. finished the stonework in 1884, the obelisk ended up faced in three different types of white marble because of the long interruption. It was the tallest structure in the world from 1884 until the Eiffel Tower overtook it in 1889.
the building
Three marbles, one shaft. Because construction paused for 23 years, the monument's exterior is faced in three different kinds of white marble rather than one continuous course. Underneath, the foundation is built of bluestone gneiss, with granite forming the main structure.
A record height. At 555 feet, the monument was the tallest structure on Earth from its completion in 1884 until the Eiffel Tower surpassed it in 1889. It remains the third-tallest monumental column in the world, behind only the Juche Tower in Pyongyang and the San Jacinto Monument near Houston, Texas. A 2013-2014 National Geodetic Survey measurement put its precise height at 554 feet 7 11/32 inches.
the style
The monument's design is a stone obelisk, a form rooted in the Egyptian Revival style. It stands east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall.
More on Egyptian Revivalthe architect
Robert Mills designed the monument in 1848 but did not see it finished. After the 23-year funding hiatus, the project passed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with Thomas Lincoln Casey Sr. overseeing completion of the stonework in 1884.
significance
The Washington Monument is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognized as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and included in the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites. It held the record as the world's tallest structure from 1884 to 1889 and remains the third-tallest monumental column on Earth.
nearby
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- U.S. Capitol Gatehouses and Gateposts
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Sidney R. Yates Federal Building
- Lockkeeper's House, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Extension
- Jamie L. Whitten Building