Secret Architecture
Herein I would like to attempt to summarize the assumptions and conclusions of David Ovason's book "The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capitol", which deals with the planning and building of Washington, D.C. . The physical evidence that his arguement hinges on, is the fact that the sun sets over the White House, as seen from the Capitol Building, somewhere around the end of the first week, or the beginning of the second week in August, of each year. The date he offers is August 10th. The conclusion that he reaches is that the city planners oriented Pennsylvannia Avenue so as to highlight this event, for astronomical reasons. The steps in his arguement go something like this: 1) People have been orienting monuments and structures according to celestial events for thousands of years; 2) the city planning of Washington, D.C. has been coordinated by Masons, since the beginning; 3) the city was intended to celebrate the mystery of the constellation Virgo- which he claims is associated with the Egyptian Isis, Greek Ceres and the Catholic Virgin Mary; 4) Pennsylvannia Avenue was aligned so that, as the sun sets in early August, when the sun is in Leo, the Virgo constellation is on the western horizon following the sunset. Ovason points out more than once that this is The Mystery of the DC layout, and is focused on ONE sunset. I intend to point of the failings in his logic, and to expand on his thesis, somewhat. Let me say at the outset, that I agree that the design and construction of the Capitol city has been under Masonic control, and that it is a given that structures have been aligned celestially since the beginning of civilization. Where I believe that Ovason gets side-tracked, is where he tries to center the celebration of the "mystery" to one day or sunset. The Solar Arc Here is a copy of page 82 from Ovason's book, where he discusses the solar arc, and the city's having been aligned to the sunset. This is particuarly poorly worded for an author who is supposed to be an esteemed astrologer like Ovason. He says, "the east west line on which the city is laid is halfway between the two extremes of northerly and southerly (sun) setting". Well yes; the city is laid out orthographically, that is on a north-south, east-west grid; and the east-west line IS the mid point in the suns yearly path. This is a natural function of aligning any thing, from a pyramid to a monument or city to a house, in this way. Next he says, "the designers of the city oriented it to the Sun, specifically to the sunset... these measurements are made from the Capitol Building". This is what is called a "spurious realtionship" in science and statistics. If the city, like the pyramids, were oriented to the North, it is automatically (also) oriented to the South, East and the West; as well as the sunsets and sunrises, and just the sunsets. Any building who's front door faces east is aligned to the sunrise; this makes it's back door face the west, and aligned to the sunset. This is an not uncommon practice in city planning, to align streets north-south and east-west; and is hardly a mystery. As you can see from the illustration, the Capitol features streets radiating both east and west from it, as does Lincoln Square (east of the Capitol); those to the west oriented toward the setting sun, while those to the east are oriented toward the rising sun. Note that, as Ovason points out, the solar arc is symetrical about the east-west line. The term solar arc refers to the movement of the sunrise from due east in the spring, to a more northerly postion in the summer, back to due east in the fall, to a southerly position in the winter time, then back to the east in the spring again. This pattern is mirrored in the west for the sunset. Since the days and nights are of equal length in the spring and fall, the times when the sun rises due east and sets due west are called equinoxes; the Vernal Equinox in march and the Autumnal Equinox in September. The June and December extremes of the solar arc are called the Summer and Winter Solstices. Look again at page 83 where Ovason speaks of the Spring and Winter (instead of Fall) Equinoxes. Ouch! Here is an image showing the westerly view from the Capitol Building, with Maryland Avenue on the left pointing toward the Jefferson Memorial, Pennsylvannia Avenue on the right running toward the White House past the Federal Triangle and the old Post Office Building tower (pictured in Ovason's book: facing page 310), and the Mall and Washington Monument in the middle. Note that these streets comprise the so-called Masonic Compass in the Washington, D.C. map, first identified by Ed Decker in his pamphlet entitled "The Question of Freemasonry" (Published in 1992). Continue

Secret Architecture

Herein I would like to attempt to summarize the assumptions and conclusions of David Ovason's book "The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capitol", which deals with the planning and building of Washington, D.C. .
The physical evidence that his arguement hinges on, is the fact that the sun sets over the White House, as seen from the Capitol Building, somewhere around the end of the first week, or the beginning of the second week in August, of each year. The date he offers is August 10th. The conclusion that he reaches is that the city planners oriented Pennsylvannia Avenue so as to highlight this event, for astronomical reasons.
The steps in his arguement go something like this:
1) People have been orienting monuments and structures according to celestial events for thousands of years;
2) the city planning of Washington, D.C. has been coordinated by Masons, since the beginning;
3) the city was intended to celebrate the mystery of the constellation Virgo- which he claims is associated with the Egyptian Isis, Greek Ceres and the Catholic Virgin Mary;
4) Pennsylvannia Avenue was aligned so that, as the sun sets in early August, when the sun is in Leo, the Virgo constellation is on the western horizon following the sunset.
Ovason points out more than once that this is The Mystery of the DC layout, and is focused on ONE sunset. I intend to point of the failings in his logic, and to expand on his thesis, somewhat.
Let me say at the outset, that I agree that the design and construction of the Capitol city has been under Masonic control, and that it is a given that structures have been aligned celestially since the beginning of civilization. Where I believe that Ovason gets side-tracked, is where he tries to center the celebration of the "mystery" to one day or sunset.

The Solar Arc
Here is a copy of page 82 from Ovason's book, where he discusses the solar arc, and the city's having been aligned to the sunset. This is particuarly poorly worded for an author who is supposed to be an esteemed astrologer like Ovason.
He says, "the east west line on which the city is laid is halfway between the two extremes of northerly and southerly (sun) setting". Well yes; the city is laid out orthographically, that is on a north-south, east-west grid; and the east-west line IS the mid point in the suns yearly path. This is a natural function of aligning any thing, from a pyramid to a monument or city to a house, in this way.
Next he says, "the designers of the city oriented it to the Sun, specifically to the sunset... these measurements are made from the Capitol Building". This is what is called a "spurious realtionship" in science and statistics. If the city, like the pyramids, were oriented to the North, it is automatically (also) oriented to the South, East and the West; as well as the sunsets and sunrises, and just the sunsets.
Any building who's front door faces east is aligned to the sunrise; this makes it's back door face the west, and aligned to the sunset. This is an not uncommon practice in city planning, to align streets north-south and east-west; and is hardly a mystery.

As you can see from the illustration, the Capitol features streets radiating both east and west from it, as does Lincoln Square (east of the Capitol); those to the west oriented toward the setting sun, while those to the east are oriented toward the rising sun.
Note that, as Ovason points out, the solar arc is symetrical about the east-west line. The term solar arc refers to the movement of the sunrise from due east in the spring, to a more northerly postion in the summer, back to due east in the fall, to a southerly position in the winter time, then back to the east in the spring again. This pattern is mirrored in the west for the sunset.
Since the days and nights are of equal length in the spring and fall, the times when the sun rises due east and sets due west are called equinoxes; the Vernal Equinox in march and the Autumnal Equinox in September. The June and December extremes of the solar arc are called the Summer and Winter Solstices. Look again at page 83 where Ovason speaks of the Spring and Winter (instead of Fall) Equinoxes. Ouch!
Here is an image showing the westerly view from the Capitol Building, with Maryland Avenue on the left pointing toward the Jefferson Memorial, Pennsylvannia Avenue on the right running toward the White House past the Federal Triangle and the old Post Office Building tower (pictured in Ovason's book: facing page 310), and the Mall and Washington Monument in the middle.

Note that these streets comprise the so-called Masonic Compass in the Washington, D.C. map, first identified by Ed Decker in his pamphlet entitled "The Question of Freemasonry" (Published in 1992).

Continue