Number One Observatory Circle
The Vice President's official home — legally "temporary" since 1974 and counting.
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Built in 1893 for a naval observatory superintendent, commandeered by the Navy's chief of naval operations in 1923, and converted to the VP's residence by Congress in 1974. Walter Mondale was the first to actually live here full-time. The 13-acre grounds sit on land carved from Northview farm, purchased by the Navy in 1880 from one of D.C.'s largest slaveholders at the time of abolition in 1862.
What to look for
- The 1893 Victorian house designed by architect Leon E. Dessez, originally commissioned for $20,000
- The British Embassy campus directly to the south of the property
- The Naval Observatory fence along Observatory Circle NW — your closest public vantage point to the grounds
The compound is closed to the public; walk the perimeter fence on Observatory Circle NW, 2.5 miles northwest of the White House.
Number One Observatory Circle is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Washington, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Washington pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Washington
- White HouseBritish forces torched it in 1814. It has been the U.S. president's home and office ever since.
- The PentagonDesigned and built in 16 months during World War II — 17.5 miles of corridors, a five-acre central courtyard, and a 9/11 memorial at the exact point of impact.
- United States CapitolEvery street address in Washington DC radiates outward from this building — it is literally the zero point of the city.
- Washington MonumentThe faint color seam partway up the shaft marks where construction stopped for 23 years.
- Smithsonian InstitutionBritish scientist James Smithson left a bequest that became 157 million objects, 21 museums, and a zoo — almost all free to walk into.
- Arlington National CemeteryThe ground holding 400,000 graves was seized from Robert E. Lee's own family over an unpaid tax bill in 1864.