Washington DC Webcam Live
The White House, official residence of the US president, and the Washington Monument's pyramidion overlooking the National Mall. Live 24/7.
Two live views of the nation's capital
earthTV broadcasts a live view of the White House; EarthCam runs a live feed from a camera embedded in the Washington Monument's pyramidion, offering 24/7 views over the National Mall from over 500 feet in the air.
Washington DC — a monument that took 36 years and changed colour halfway up
The White House has served as the official residence of every US president since John Adams first moved in, in November 1800, making it one of the oldest continuously used government buildings in the country — even after British troops set it ablaze during the War of 1812, forcing a full reconstruction behind the same walls. A few blocks away on the National Mall stands a monument with a far stranger construction story: proposed in 1783 to honour George Washington, the obelisk broke ground in 1848 but stalled for over two decades when funding collapsed and the Civil War consumed the nation's attention, leaving a stump nicknamed "The Stump" for more than twenty years.
Work finally resumed in 1876, but by then the original marble quarry could no longer supply matching stone — which is why the Washington Monument still shows a visible colour change roughly a third of the way up, marking exactly where construction paused for two decades. When the capstone was set in December 1884, the completed obelisk became the tallest structure on Earth, a title it held for barely five years before the Eiffel Tower overtook it in 1889. It remains the tallest stone structure in the world today.
What the two cameras show
White House
earthTV · LiveLive view of the White House, the official residence of the President of the United States since 1800.
Watch live →Washington Monument
EarthCam · Pyramidion, 500ft+24/7 live view over the National Mall from a hidden camera embedded in the Washington Monument's pyramidion.
Watch live →In 2011, a rare Virginia earthquake damaged the Washington Monument, and engineers drilled a secret 3-inch diameter hole near the top so climbers could rappel down to inspect the cracks. Years later, EarthCam repurposed that same tiny aperture, custom 3D-printing components and laser-cutting a lens to fit a camera through it — turning an earthquake-repair access point into a live window on the capital for millions of viewers.
Washington DC beyond the webcams
National Mall: the open, tree-lined park connecting the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, laid out on Pierre L'Enfant's original 1791 plan.
US Capitol: seat of Congress, its dome visible from the Washington Monument's observation deck alongside the White House.
Smithsonian museums: the world's largest museum complex, lining the Mall between the Capitol and the Monument, free to enter.
A monument stalled for two decades by a war fought to preserve the union stands today with its own construction pause written permanently into its colour, halfway up the shaft: Washington's most famous obelisk carries its unfinished years as visibly as its finished ones.
When to watch
National Mall, cherry blossom season: for the Washington Monument framed by blooming trees each spring.
Getting there: the White House and the Washington Monument both sit within walking distance of the National Mall, Washington, D.C., USA.
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