Washington, D.C., is administratively divided into
four geographical quadrants of unequal size, each delineated by their
ordinal directions from the medallion located in the
Crypt under the Rotunda of the Capitol. Street and number addressing, centered on the Capitol, radiates out into each of the quadrants, producing a number of intersections of identically named cross-streets in each quadrant. Originally, the
District of Columbia was a near-perfect square. However, even then the Capitol was never located at the geographic center of the territory (the geographic center was located near the present-day intersection of 17th Street, NW and
Constitution Ave.). As a result, the quadrants are of greatly varying size. Northwest is quite large, encompassing over a third of the city's geographical area, while Southwest is little more than a neighborhood and military base.