Spanish Steps

About this audio guide

This guide to the Spanish Steps in Washington, D.C. asks why generations of couples have chosen this staircase to propose, then traces its start as a practical fix: in 1911, architect Robert E. Cook was hired to solve a hill too steep for a road between S Street and Decatur Place. You'll hear how the City Beautiful movement inspired a public staircase in place of a street, and how its four curving Beaux-Arts levels came to share a nickname with Rome's more famous steps. Listen for the lion-head fountain at the center — it's older than the tradition itself.