Southwest Federal Center
Southwest Federal Center is a business district in Southwest Washington, D.C., nearly entirely occupied by offices for various branches of the U.S. Government, including many of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution.
Southwest Federal Center lies between Independence Avenue and the National Mall to the north, the Southeast-Southwest Freeway (Interstate 395) and the Washington Channel to the south, South Capitol Street to the east, and 15th Street SW to the west.
Several U.S. Cabinet Departments have headquarters or large office complexes in the area, including the Agriculture (including a separate building dedicated to the Forest Service), Transportation, HUD, Health and Human Services, Education, and Energy Departments. The most prominent are the Department of Agriculture, which is housed in a neoclassical building complex that lines both sides of Independence Avenue, and the arcing high-rise of HUD, which is characterized by a unique installation of illuminated fiberglass rings in its 7th Street plaza. Additionally, NASA Headquarters is located in a large building at the corner of 4th and E Streets. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is also located in the Southwest Federal Center area.
The office buildings for the U.S. House of Representatives line Independence Avenue on the south side of the U.S. Capitol; two of these, the Rayburn and Ford House Office Buildings, are located in Southwest Federal Center (although the Ford building is not actually located on Independence Avenue, but is on 3rd Street between D Street and Virginia Avenue SW).
The Smithsonian museums in Southwest Federal Center include the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, and the Museum of the American Indian, the Freer and Sackler galleries, the National Museum of African Art, and the Arts and Industries Building, as well as the Smithsonian Castle that forms the main offices for the Institution. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, though not affiliated with the Smithsonian, is also located in the vicinity.
The few non-governmental businesses in the neighborhood include five hotels, St. Dominic's Catholic Church, a few restaurants, a power station for the neighborhood, the First District police station, and commercial spaces (e.g., convenience stores, bank branches, coffee shops, etc.) in the lobbies of the hotels and office buildings. Also, L'Enfant Plaza, a multi-building complex and promenade that includes both government and civilian offices (as well as an indoor shopping mall), is located off Independence Avenue.
The Southwest Federal Center is served by the Smithsonian and Federal Center SW Metro stations on the Orange, Blue, Silver Lines, and by the L'Enfant Plaza station on the Green, Yellow, Silver, Orange, and Blue Lines.
- v
- t
- e
- Adams Morgan
- Columbia Heights
- Kalorama Triangle
- Lanier Heights
- LeDroit Park
- Meridian Hill
- Mount Pleasant
- Park View
- Pleasant Plains
- U Street Corridor (Cardozo/Shaw)
- Woodley Park
- Burleith
- Chinatown
- Downtown
- Dupont Circle
- Foggy Bottom
- Georgetown
- Sheridan-Kalorama
- Logan Circle
- Mount Vernon Square
- Penn Quarter
- Shaw
- Southwest Federal Center
- West End
- American University Park
- Berkley
- Cathedral Heights
- Chevy Chase
- Cleveland Park
- Colony Hill
- Forest Hills
- Foxhall
- Friendship Heights
- Glover Park
- Kent
- Massachusetts Heights
- McLean Gardens
- North Cleveland Park
- Observatory Circle
- The Palisades
- Potomac Heights
- Spring Valley
- Tenleytown
- Wakefield
- Wesley Heights
- Woodland Normanstone
- Woodley Park
- Barnaby Woods
- Brightwood
- Brightwood Park
- Chevy Chase
- Colonial Village
- Crestwood
- Fort Stevens Ridge
- Fort Totten
- Hawthorne
- Manor Park
- North Portal Estates
- Petworth
- Queens Chapel
- Riggs Park
- Shepherd Park
- Sixteenth Street Heights
- Takoma
- Arboretum
- Bloomingdale
- Brentwood
- Brookland
- Carver Langston
- Eckington
- Edgewood
- Fort Lincoln
- Fort Totten
- Gateway
- Ivy City
- Langdon
- Michigan Park
- North Michigan Park
- Pleasant Hill
- Queens Chapel
- Stronghold-Metropolis View
- Trinidad
- Truxton Circle
- Woodridge
- Barney Circle
- Capitol Hill
- Judiciary Square
- Mount Vernon Triangle
- Near Northeast
- NoMa
- Southwest Waterfront
- Sursum Corda
- Swampoodle
- Benning
- Benning Heights
- Benning Ridge
- Burrville
- Capitol View
- Central Northeast
- Civic Betterment
- Deanwood
- Dupont Park
- East River Heights
- Eastland Gardens
- Fairfax Village
- Fort Davis
- Fort Dupont
- Fort Stanton
- Good Hope
- Greenway
- Hillbrook
- Hillcrest
- Kenilworth
- Kingman Park
- Lincoln Heights
- Marshall Heights
- Mayfair
- Naylor Gardens
- Northeast Boundary
- Penn Branch
- Randle Highlands
- River Terrace
- Twining
- Anacostia
- Barry Farm
- Bellevue
- Buena Vista
- Congress Heights
- Douglass
- Fairlawn
- Garfield Heights
- Navy Yard
- Park Naylor
- Shipley Terrace
- Skyland
- Washington Highlands
- Woodland