The spooky season is among us! And though I’ve now lived in the DC metro for more than eight years, only at the end of October 2025 have I finally embarked on a journey to this famous flight of stairs. I’m not sure they achieve quite the memetic lore as the Rocky steps—the climb up
In some respects, it’s a tale of two streets. But since it’s actually one y-axis on the grid that comprises downtown Columbia, South Carolina, it’s not so much two main streets as an age-old distinction between north and south: two sides of Main Street. The north side of Main protrudes from one direction of the
Crossing the Occoquan River from Prince William County to southern Fairfax County in Northern Virginia doesn’t yield a lot of surprises. Regardless of the county, it’s all suburbia, albeit a lot less dense and urbanized than Arlington County or other parts of Fairfax that are closer to Alexandria and, of course, Washington DC. But, while
For being a licensed city planner, I’ve avoided using one particular term in this blog common within my profession’s jargon: urban sprawl. Applying the search tool, it has only appeared as content within 72 articles—pretty rare considering that at this point in September 2025, I have produced 956 blog posts. Keep in mind, many of
Continuing the spirit of the previous blog post—surveying big buildings and extolling those that look good from all angles—I migrate this time for a brief look at a building in my hometown that has always captivated me and certainly achieves minor landmark status. Most other visitors to Indianapolis who have lingered in this neighborhood have
Many municipalities in northern Appalachia—which I consider to include Western Pennsylvania, much of Upstate New York, Western Maryland, Western Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and pretty much all of West Virginia—look bigger than they are. If one drives past them on a freeway, the density of buildings that form a skyline makes them look quite large, but,
Washington National Cathedral, among the highest-profile religious institutions in the country and certainly in the capital city, has long attracted visitors (pilgrims?) not just for its harrowing Neo-Gothic architecture, or its frequently filmed interior (the site of many presidential funerals), but also for the celebrated green space, which together occupy a hilltop plot measuring 57
An incredibly busy time of year forces me to crank out a few analysis-shy “throwaway” posts so that I can still meet my monthly quota. This time around, it’s a familiar subject as well: the cherry blossom season around the Tidal Basin in Washington DC. By this point in April, the blossoms are typically all
Though my articles rarely reflect a hot-off-the-presses event, here’s another exception to that rule, which I feel compelled to publish now (instead of three months from now) because, I fear, waiting that long will cause its significance to fade from collective memory. The event to which I refer is obvious from the title: the demise
The building featured in this final elegy has probably served as the thumbnail photo more than any other structure, in my nearly sixteen years of writing for this blog. I’m talking about none other than Sanctuary on Penn, FKA First Lutheran Church, FKA Mount Pisgah. The late Gothic building, on the National Register of Historic
The spooky season is among us! And though I’ve now lived in the DC metro for more than eight years, only at the end of October 2025 have I finally embarked on a
In some respects, it’s a tale of two streets. But since it’s actually one y-axis on the grid that comprises downtown Columbia, South Carolina, it’s not so much two main streets as an
Crossing the Occoquan River from Prince William County to southern Fairfax County in Northern Virginia doesn’t yield a lot of surprises. Regardless of the county, it’s all suburbia, albeit a lot less dense
For being a licensed city planner, I’ve avoided using one particular term in this blog common within my profession’s jargon: urban sprawl. Applying the search tool, it has only appeared as content within
Continuing the spirit of the previous blog post—surveying big buildings and extolling those that look good from all angles—I migrate this time for a brief look at a building in my hometown that
Many municipalities in northern Appalachia—which I consider to include Western Pennsylvania, much of Upstate New York, Western Maryland, Western Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and pretty much all of West Virginia—look bigger than they are.
Washington National Cathedral, among the highest-profile religious institutions in the country and certainly in the capital city, has long attracted visitors (pilgrims?) not just for its harrowing Neo-Gothic architecture, or its frequently filmed
An incredibly busy time of year forces me to crank out a few analysis-shy “throwaway” posts so that I can still meet my monthly quota. This time around, it’s a familiar subject as
Though my articles rarely reflect a hot-off-the-presses event, here’s another exception to that rule, which I feel compelled to publish now (instead of three months from now) because, I fear, waiting that long
The building featured in this final elegy has probably served as the thumbnail photo more than any other structure, in my nearly sixteen years of writing for this blog. I’m talking about none