The Freemasons in Washington
These three symbols of Washington are also symbolic for Masons. The cornerstone of each building was laid by a Mason during a Masonic cornerstone ceremony. Master Mason George Washington himself laid the cornerstone for the Capitol in 1793. (A painting inside the Capitol depicts the event.) The Capitol even graces the cover of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.
The White House and Capitol were built in the late 1700s and were two of three main sites shown on Pierre L'Enfant's plans for the city. The third focal point was meant to house a statue of Washington, but this structure and its location would change significantly after L'Enfant's death in 1825.
L'Enfant had intended for the Washington Monument to stand directly south of the center of the White House and directly west of the center of the Capitol, forming a right triangle with Pennsylvania Avenue as the hypotenuse. However, the ground was determined to be too unstable for the monument, so a site about 400 feet to the east was selected instead.
The cornerstone was laid in 1848, but the monument was not completed until 1885, nearly 90 years after Washington's death. A lack of funding and the Civil War were major factors in delaying the construction.
The Washington Monument is the tallest structure in Washington.
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