During this trip I have noticed that almost every country has stolen things from other countries, be it architecture, monuments, or treasure. In Washington, DC there wasn't any stolen monuments, but the architecture definitely wasn't original. It was mostly Greek. Also, the Washington monument is an obelisk which is Egyptian (even though we didn't actually take it from Egypt like most other countries).
Most of the architecture of the government buildings and memorials in DC is Greek, but this is hardly 'stealing' because everyone uses Greek architecture. The memorial which is especially greek is the Jefferson memorial, which is really similar to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is actually Roman, but I seriously can't tell the difference between Greek and Roman architecture except, perhaps, that Greek is simpler. Like the Pantheon, the Jefferson Memorial is round, with a big dome and a column-y front like the Pantheon. The Memorial is more like a portico, because it is really open and there are only walls where there is a famous passage from the deceleration of independence engraved upon it. The big spaces between engraved walls have Doric columns (again Greek) holding up the roof.
The dome is also very similar to that of the Pantheon because it has square holes in the inside of the dome, kind of like a honeycomb, and a sort of step around the outside of the dome on the exterior. The honeycomb effect is to lighten the roof, and the extra steps on the base of the dome are to add weight to the base, and counteract the outward thrust from the dome. The same thing happens on the Pantheon. The entire memorial (like most of the other important buildings in our capital) is made of bright white marble, which is usually associated with Greece as well.
There is no new form of architecture in the government buildings and memorials in Washington, DC, but I don't think it is right to accuse anyone of stealing the Greek architecture. So many people use it that it is practically public property anyway.
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