The Car Barn is a historic building in the Georgetown neighborhood of
Washington, D.C. Designed by the American architect Waddy Butler Wood,
it was built between 1895 and 1897 by the Capital Traction Company as a
union terminal for several Washington and Virginia streetcar lines. The
Exorcist steps, later named after their appearance in William Friedkin's
1973 horror film The Exorcist, were built during the initial
construction to connect M Street with Prospect Street. Almost
immediately after its construction, it was converted to accommodate
electric streetcars. The building has undergone several renovations, the
most extensive in 1911, when the original Romanesque Revival façade was
significantly modified and the interior was almost completely gutted.
Changing ownership over time, it maintained its original function of
housing streetcars until 1950, when it was redeveloped as office space.
Today, it is used as an academic building by Georgetown University.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Car_Barn>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry (Japanese depiction
pictured) and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa,
forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Kanagawa>
1889:
The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris, becoming a global
cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in
the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower>
1901:
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Black Sea, the most
powerful ever recorded in the area.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1901_Black_Sea_earthquake>
1942:
Second World War: Because of a mutiny by Indian soldiers
against their British officers, Japanese troops captured Christmas
Island without any resistance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Christmas_Island>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
verklempt:
1. (US, colloquial) Overcome with emotion, choked up.
2. (US, colloquial) Flustered, nervous, overwhelmed.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verklempt>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am a man: little do I last and the night is enormous. But I
look up: the stars write. Unknowing I understand: I too am written,
and at this very moment someone spells me out.
--Octavio Paz
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavio_Paz>