If you thought stairs were just for suffering, you wouldn’t be wrong. Despite the terrific disruptive technology that is the elevator, staircases somehow persist throughout this city, like decorative cockroaches. These are the beautiful, broken escalators that have caught our IG-trained eye over and over again.
https://instagram.com/p/BOP09d7jU2j/
At the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, you’ll need an invite or to be a Trump administration staffer to pull off this post-security shot in the future. The best IG shots require risk. Here, @capturedbycoco imperils her iPhone with an over-the-bannister move that is not for the faint-of-insurance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOQ2hBoAaYw/
2 staircases > 1 staircase. Plus, waiting until 3AM to get an empty vista at one of the busiest train stations in the US demonstrates dedication.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOOAtWUBpwd/
The kaleidoscopic staircase at the National Gallery of Art is like a pale hall of mirrors. Here, @hung.docx uses friendship to maximum effect by posing @meekoh mid-stride and staring intently into a most riveting blank wall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BNzh-kUgA8h/
This Supreme Court staircase is off-limits to the general public, which is basically a bonus freeing you from any obligation to climb it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BON8G9FlOyH/
The intersecting staircases of the National Gallery of Art photograph like an M.C. Escher print. Insert a human being for scale.
Rosa is a senior editor at Bitch Magazine. She’s written for Washingtonian and Smithsonian magazine.
