Institute of Education Sciences

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States. It also conducts international comparisons of education statistics and provides leadership in developing and promoting the use of standardized terminology and definitions for the collection of those statistics. NCES is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System.

The Maine Avenue Fish Market also known as the Fish Wharf, or simply, the Wharf, is an open-air seafood market in Southwest Washington, D.C., a local landmark and one of the few that remain on the east coast of the United States. It is the oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States, founded 17 years earlier than New York City's Fulton Fish Market.

The International Spy Museum is an independent non-profit museum which documents the tradecraft, history, and contemporary role of espionage. It holds the largest collection of international espionage artifacts on public display. The museum opened in 2002 in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and relocated to L'Enfant Plaza in 2019.

Banneker Circle is a partial traffic circle in Southwest Washington, D.C. The name of the circle commemorates Benjamin Banneker, an African American astronomer and almanac author. In 1791, Banneker assisted in the initial survey of the boundaries of the District of Columbia. The circle is near the south end of L'Enfant Promenade and the intersection of Interstate 395 and Maine Avenue. Benjamin Banneker Park is located in the center of the circle.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Cotton Annex is an office building located at 300 12th Street SW in Washington, D.C. The size of the building has been variously given at 89,000 square feet and 118,000 square feet.

The Inner Loop was two planned freeways around downtown Washington, D.C. The innermost loop would have formed an oval centered on the White House, with a central freeway connecting the southern segment to the northern segment and then continuing on to Interstate 95. Interstate 95 would have met Interstate 66, Interstate 295, Interstate 695, and US 50 while traversing the Inner Loop. A second loop was an arc across the northern section of the city, beginning at East Capitol Street at the Anacostia River and using the Missouri Avenue NW and Nebraska Avenue NW commercial corridors to terminate in Georgetown.

L'Enfant Plaza is a complex of four commercial buildings grouped around a large plaza in the Southwest section of Washington, D.C., United States. Immediately below the plaza and the buildings is La Promenade shopping mall.The plaza is located south of Independence Avenue SW between 12th and 9th Streets SW (9th Street actually runs underneath the centers of the buildings on the easternmost side of the plaza). It was built perpendicular to L'Enfant Promenade, a north-south running street and pedestrian esplanade part of which is directly above 10th Street SW. The plaza is named for Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant, the architect and planner who first designed a street layout for the capital city (see L'Enfant Plan). It was dedicated in 1968 after completion of the north and south buildings.

The Central Heating Plant is a power station located at 325 13th Street, SW in the Southwest Federal Center neighborhood of Washington, D.C. which serves most of the United States federal government buildings near the National Mall. Operated by the General Services Administration, it was designed by architect Paul Philippe Cret in 1933. At the time of its construction it was the largest such heating facility in the United States and served 22 federal buildings. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.Cret used Art Deco styling for the essentially industrial building, a departure from the prevailing Washington classicism, but was able to integrate it with its surroundings through careful massing and detailing. Pilasters and vertical ribbons of windows stand in for classical colonnades. Cret designed the roof profile so that the plant's smokestacks did not project above the equipment screen, satisfying the concerns of the District of Columbia Commission on Fine Arts, which had jurisdiction over the design. The three octagonal smokestacks rise only 42 feet (13 m). Limestone relief panels illustrate the building's purpose with depictions of a boiler, safety valve, generator, fan and heat exchanger. The building is noteworthy as an early example of Modernism-influenced architecture, and as a notably attractive building in its own right.Originally designed to burn coal, the Central Heating Plant has been converted to use oil and natural gas. A central refrigeration plant constructed in 1957 obscures the east elevation.

Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C. is a luxury Postmodernist-style hotel located at 1330 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, D.C., in the United States. Since its opening, the Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C., has been AAA-rated four diamonds and Forbes Travel Guide rated four stars. Completed in 2004, the hotel is near the National Mall and Smithsonian Institution museums, and overlooks the Tidal Basin. The Washington Post calls the hotels location "unconventional". The 373-room hotel is located near downtown Washington, although to reach Capitol Hill guests would need a taxicab or automobile. Guests in rooms on the upper levels have views of the city and its monuments, but the surrounding neighborhood consisted primarily of railroad tracks, freeways, and office buildings.The Mandarin Oriental features a curving Mansard roof punctuated a points by windows which are either round or arched, and often protected by a pediment. The facade is light tan brick, with double-hung windows in a repetitive pattern piercing the facade. Brennan Beer Gorman Monk also oversaw the interior design. The hotel's vast lobby is lined with marble, and public hallways feature rocking chairs and sofas.The hotel was built atop the CSX Transportation's RF&P Subdivision railroad tracks, which restored a segment of Maryland Avenue SW. An abandoned railroad bridge to the west of the hotel was converted into a pedestrian bridge and pathway, which connects the Mandarin Oriental and The Portals to the Tidal Basin waterfront.

CityZen was a formal dining restaurant located in the Mandarin Oriental Washington hotel in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 2004, it served modern American cuisine. Eric Ziebold had been its executive chef since its opening. The restaurant ceased operations on December 6, 2014.

Maine Avenue is a diagonal avenue in the Southwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. Maine Avenue connects Independence Avenue with M Street SW, and has an interchange with Interstate 395.

The Hilton Washington DC National Mall The Wharf, previously known as the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, is a 367-room hotel located on the top four floors of a 12-story mixed-use building in downtown Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was designed by architect Vlastimil Koubek, and was opened on May 31, 1973, as the Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, named after Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the first surveyor and designer of the street layout of the city. The hotel sits atop L'Enfant Plaza, an esplanade and plaza structure erected above a highway and a parking garage in the Southwest quadrant of the District of Columbia. The plaza and hotel were approved in 1955, but construction did not begin on the plaza (on which the hotel sits) until 1965. The plaza and esplanade were completed in 1968. The start of construction on the hotel was delayed three years, and was completed in May 1973. The construction led to a lawsuit after it was found that the foundation of an adjoining structure had encroached on the hotel's property. The hotel suffered a serious fire in 1975 that claimed the lives of two people. L'Enfant Plaza Corp., which owned the hotel, sold the structure to Sarakreek Holdings in 1998, which in turn sold it to the JBG Companies in 2003. A legal battle ensued over the hotel's ownership. The hotel's original operator, Loews Hotels, was replaced after thirty-two years by Crestline Hotels & Resorts in 2005, which was in turn replaced by the Davidson Hotel Company in 2010. The hotel closed on December 3, 2013, for what was originally intended to be a year-long overhaul and upgrade of the entire property. It reopened on April 1, 2019, as the Hilton Washington DC National Mall.