Looking down E street just after sundown from the corner of 8th St. This is part of the “urban landscape” of DC—low and relatively bland buildings. The short buildings can be excplained, I'm told, by the rules forbidding any building from being taller than the capital building, or something like that. The blandness? I dunno. Some buildings aren't so bland, but... Down the street on the left in the above picture you can see a building that looks like it has a gap in it near the top (that dark line). This is some gov't building and I'm sure this design was an attempt at creating architectural interest, but for me it failed miserably; it just makes the building look more ominous somehow. It's probably just me...