Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 04/10/2026DC People: for your rainy day inside, I wrote about our nosy Federal in-law.thebirthofacapital.infoWho made NPS the boss of DC?Et in arcadia, Hoover? 1118
Kim Bender @kimpbender.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Neil makes a compelling argument that the site of the “Triumphal Arch h” - which sits on the axis between Robert E. Lee’s ancestral home and the Lincoln Memorial - should actually be a memorial to Emancipation. www.thebirthofacapital.info/who-came-up-...thebirthofacapital.infoWho came up with Memorial Bridge?The answer should give us pause. 1113
Reposted by Kim BenderHistorical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Truly understated 162
Reposted by Kim BenderBrian Miller @b-miller.bsky.social · 01/08/2026Went to the Memorial Bridge equestrian sculptures today and it’s not a reflecting pool situation, the work was done by top notch craftspeople from The Gilders’ Studio and you can faintly see the gold leaf squares in the last pic. You can hate the expenditure and aesthetic, but it’s the real deal. 082
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 28/07/2026The size of the backlog at most archives I have used is enough for a jobs program itself, and then another to begin to interpret the material. 1186
Reposted by Kim BenderThe Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 19/07/2026People, including Matt Seaton, love walls, especially the weather-grizzled, lichen-blotched stone walls that crisscross New England. Seaton writes about his decision to quit his day job as an editor at this magazine and become a part-time waller.bit.lyThe True History of New England 's Stone WallsWhy we love them, and why I build them. 1568
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 18/07/2026There’s something for you in the DC archives.51st.newsCheck out thousands of photos of midcentury D.C.The District of Columbia Archives has released its largest digital collection of historic photos 082
Reposted by Kim BenderRoger Senserrich @4freedoms.es · 26/06/2026Every hometown’s got the ominous megastructure. What is yours? 4102
Kim Bender @kimpbender.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Took a detour through the Great American State Fair. Sometimes DC is a mind-boggling city. 220
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 21/06/2026Many people have been saying that adaptive reuse is the future of architecture... well if you look at billed hours, the future is already here.bloomberg.com 062
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Believe it or not, there's a rich history to the monuments and water features the president is painting. So, I've started putting together a scholarly bibliography for the design of the National Mall. It's heavy on my interests, so if you see I've missed something, let me know in the replies! 🗃️thebirthofacapital.infoA bibliography for Trump's WashingtonIf you read one book about the city Donald Trump has set out to transform, make it Howard Gillette's Between Justice & Beauty: Race, Planning, and the Failure of Urban Policy in Washington, D.C. It re... 99832
Reposted by Kim Benderderek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 16/06/2026RIP Mark Rothko. You would have loved how the hydrogen peroxide bleach is only turning the Reflecting Pool blue around the perimeter 1441382397415
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 28/05/2026I wrote about how I am boiling detective stories to their bones to make my book as readable as possible—without making it about me. 🗃️thebirthofacapital.infoAm I writing a heist story?A confession of literary larceny. 162
Reposted by Kim BenderJalane Schmidt 📢🚫🧊🚫👑✊🏾🏴🌈🇨🇺🇻🇪 🇬🇱 🇺🇦🍉YIMBY🏘️🏗️🏢✝️🌹 @jalaneschmidt.bsky.social · 25/05/2026When your community removes a racist statue, do like Charlottesville and melt that fucker down. Because if you just stash it in storage, it becomes what @artcrimeprof.bsky.social calls “America’s strategic racism reserve” — ready for redeployment. www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/s...nbcwashington.comStatue of founding father who enslaved hundreds installed at Freedom PlazaCaesar Rodney’s statue was taken down in Delaware during protests in the summer of 2020 because of Rodney’s legacy of enslaving hundreds of people. 8854262
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Good interview with Owen Hatherley. His speculation on the background to these projects is not informed but the alternative visions for the city are excellent.nytimes.comOpinion | Trump’s Architecture Rankles. But Why? 022
Reposted by Kim BenderAlexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 03/05/2026It’s a synthetic fantasy about a future along the Potomac River where rising tides, storm surges, and more intense hurricanes don’t exist. 211512
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 02/05/2026In a democracy, there is something shameful about the security that surrounds its leaders. But Donald Trump doesn't feel any shame. Me in the Atlantic on the victory of bunker mentality.theatlantic.comThe White House Is a Fortress. It’s Not Supposed to Look Like One.Trump’s ballroom would contort a design that is supposed to emphasize democracy and openness. 1173
Reposted by Kim BenderDC Public Library @dcpubliclibrary.bsky.social · 01/05/2026DC History Conference returns to MLK Library. 📅 May 1–2 ⏰ 9:30am–5:30pm Free, two days of talks, storytelling, and deep dives into DC’s past and present. Students, scholars, artists, and neighbors all in one space. Plan ahead. Register here: bit.ly/4tvmGtq 072
Kim Bender @kimpbender.bsky.social · 28/04/2026I’m all for getting people to engage more in history but…wut? 010
Reposted by Kim BenderMitch Ryals @mitchryals.bsky.social · 16/04/2026The Board of Zoning Adjustment hasn't been able to establish a quorum for more than a month, bringing housing renovations and development to a screeching halt. Suzie Amanuel spoke to an elderly couple who are caught in the middle: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7838...washingtoncitypaper.comThe Board of Zoning Adjustment Hasn’t Had a Quorum For More Than a Month, Snarling Housing Renovation and DevelopmentA series of recent departures and a yearlong vacancy have effectively halted crucial zoning decisions. Cases have been pushed back to June—at the earliest. 122
Reposted by Kim BenderDC Archives Foundation @dcarchivesfdn.bsky.social · 16/04/2026Happy 40th Anniversary to the DC Archives!! 032
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 10/04/2026I have heard very, very good things about the status of the DC Archives funding. The hearing is 4/27. 🗃️ 273
Reposted by Kim BenderDr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 07/04/2026View and map of Toledo, 1610. Another wild & wonderful work by El Greco, who died (in Toledo) on this day in 1614. 110216
Reposted by Kim BenderStephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 04/04/2026Historic Days in April from the Crisis, April 1912 hdl.handle.net/2027/msu.312... 131
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 28/03/2026If you stay in bed a little longer, you’ll have more time to read this ⬇️ 082
Reposted by Kim BenderMartin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 27/03/2026Of nerdy urbanist interest: Next week the D.C. Council will cast a first vote on @brianneknadeau.bsky.social's bill to allow for new D.C. buildings up to six stories tall to have only a single stairwell in them, instead of the current two. Proponents say it creates more residential space. 3539
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 20/03/2026Not only is this correct, it's how the designers of the National Mall thought. The McMillan Commission imagined clearing out neighborhoods for grand buildings and wide roads. NCPPC executed that vision with a full commitment to the automobile era. The Mall has been obsolete from the start. 3176
Reposted by Kim BenderJacob Lawrence @jacoblawrence.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Workshop (Builders #1) www.wikiart.org/en/jacob-lawrence/w… 001
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 09/03/2026That’s right. @kimpbender.bsky.social 001
Reposted by Kim BenderErik Schlenker-Goodrich @riogranderift.bsky.social · 07/03/2026Rivers are living beings. 382557663
Reposted by Kim BenderLeon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 05/03/2026Today’s archival research has been weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable other than the random fragment of a poem about vegetables on the back of an 1819 receipt tendered to the Boston Board of Selectmen 🗃️ 5345
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 05/03/2026Tammy Stidham is going to vote for this but she voted against the DC Archives. Just something I expect to remember in 2029. 161
Kim Bender @kimpbender.bsky.social · 02/03/2026Neil’s newsletter is destined to be required DC history reading. 🗃️ 0144
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 19/02/2026It was a pleasure to talk to Alex Wagner about the president's half-baked and self-aggrandizing plans for Washington. Thank you to @heurichhouse.bsky.social for allowing me to film in their amazing and acoustically great dining room.youtube.comTrump Gives DC a MAGA Facelift (w/ Heather Cox Richardson)YouTube video by Runaway Country with Alex Wagner 2164
Reposted by Kim BenderNeil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 17/02/2026Pleasure to talk to Anthony Burke about the administration’s plans for Washington, and in good company.abc.net.auDesigning for power: White House changes and the signal they send - ABC listenIf buildings speak, the White House never whispers — and recent design overhauls have given it a whole new vocabulary. In this episode, we decode the aesthetic signals embedded in its latest transform... 273
Reposted by Kim BenderHeurich House Museum @heurichhouse.bsky.social · 03/02/2026Help us find our next Executive Director. good-insight.org/careers/ 022
Kim Bender @kimpbender.bsky.social · 02/02/2026Some more news: I am thrilled that my next role will be to support DC's architectural community! In March, I will start my new role as Executive Director of AIA|DC and the Washington Architectural Foundation, who together run the District Architecture Center. 081
Reposted by Kim BenderHyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 19/01/2026Since 1986, Don Miller’s 56-foot painting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, has served as a visual portal into the civil rights leader’s life and legacy.hyperallergic.com40 Years On, DC Artists Revisit Don Miller's MLK MuralSince 1986, the 56-foot painting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library has served as a visual portal into the civil rights leader’s life and legacy. 23516
Reposted by Kim Benderjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 16/01/2026to despair and embrace cynicism was to hand powerful weapons to the enemy 101551251
Kim Bender @kimpbender.bsky.social · 12/01/2026Some News: After 15 years at the @heurichhouse.bsky.social , I have decided it is time for me to leave my role as Executive Director. 🗃️ 1101
Reposted by Kim BenderHeurich House Museum @heurichhouse.bsky.social · 31/12/2025What a year! Thank you to all the event attendees, tour takers, Biergarten visitors, and program partners who shaped 2025 at the Heurich House Museum. We’re looking forward to another year with you and the building that makes it all possible. 111
Reposted by Kim Benderderek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 28/12/2025i love furniture restoration videos because they show how quality is important and you can get some really beautiful, overlooked furniture if you learn certain skills IG savedbydesign.tn 2138755833