Washington Monument

The Washington Monument is an enormous white marble obelisk located at the centre of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to honour George Washington, the first President of the United States. Standing at approximately 169 metres tall, it held the title of the world’s tallest building upon its completion in 1884, a record it kept until the Eiffel Tower was finished in 1889. The monument is designed in an Egyptian-inspired style, reflecting the neoclassical taste of the era, and it remains the world’s tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk. Its construction was a long process that occurred in two distinct phases due to funding issues and the interruption of the American Civil War, which is why there is a subtle change in the colour of the marble about one-third of the way up the exterior.