Foggy Bottom is one of the oldest late 18th and 19th-century neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. Foggy Bottom is west of downtown Washington, in the Northwest quadrant, bounded roughly by 17th Street to the east, Rock Creek Parkway to the west, Constitution Avenue to the south, and Pennsylvania Avenue to the north. Much of Foggy Bottom is occupied by the main campus of George Washington University (GWU). Foggy Bottom is thought to have received its name due to its riverside location, which made it susceptible to concentrations of fog and industrial smoke, an atmospheric quirk.
Points of interest in Foggy Bottom include the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Friendship Lodge Odd Fellows Hall; and the infamous Watergate complex, site of the burglaries which led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal. George Washington University has grown significantly over the past decades and now covers much of the neighborhood, which has many historic old homes and numerous mid-rise apartment buildings. The historic portion of the Foggy Bottom neighborhood is preserved and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Just south of the Watergate complex, on the Potomac River, lies the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, home of the National Symphony Orchestra and numerous other theatrical and musical exhibitions.
The southern edge of Foggy Bottom is home to many federal government offices, including the State Department. The Main Interior Building (headquarters of the Department of the Interior), the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters, and the Federal Reserve Board buildings all lie on or around Virginia Avenue. To the east lies the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, home to the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the Office of the Vice President of the United States. On the other side of the office is the White House, outside of the neighborhood.
Foggy Bottom is also home to numerous international and American organizations. The World Bank buildings, the International Finance Corporation, the International Monetary Fund, the Office of Personnel Management, DAR Constitution Hall of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Pharmacists Association, the American Red Cross National Headquarters, the Pan American Health Organization, and the Organization of American States are all located in the neighborhood. In addition, the Mexican and Spanish Embassies are located in Foggy Bottom, both on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Information provided from Wikipedia.
