Washington, first, foremost and probably forever, is a government city, subdivided and promoted in its beginning by George Washington, whose lands lay just across the Potomac River at Great Falls and Mt. Vernon, in Virginia. The growth of government and the city's role as an international power nexus mean that Washingtonians have the closest, most intense exposure that seems possible to the business of this "paper" town including politics, diplomacy, the federal buck, and national personalities.

Where once swampland and rolling fog made early settlers fear malaria as well as military and financial disaster, there are now elegant embassies, hotels, classical office buildings, and new concrete glass structures, which are changing the face of the city from year to year. Key elements in the downtown revitalizadon are the projected $68.5 million Washington Convention Center; the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, dedicated to renewed commercial and residential rebirth; National Place; and Washington Harbour on the banks of the Potomac at Georgetown.

Washington is divided into four quadrants: The far northwest is the most chic and expensive. The southwest has developed into a large condominium and apartment market for government workers. Capitol Hill, which is closer to the government complex of legislative, judicial and executive halls downtown, offers refurbished row houses at more reasonable prices than those in Georgetown. And finally, there is the northeast section, famous for the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where townhouses and condominiums are springing up everywhere. Mixed use projects north of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, combine offices, retail, and residential sites in to a striking concept of downtown living.