My wife discovered an old photograph of her grandparents at a building
in Washington DC, circa 1934, which I've scanned and made available
at:
http://www.gsuddes.com/somewhereinwashingtondc.jpg
First thought was the Lincoln Memorial, but I can't get Google Images
to provide an architectural match to the steps and stonework in the
picture.
We'd like to be able to re-create this picture with our own family in
2004, so if someone could provide proof of what and where this
building is in Washington DC, so we can go and visit and recreate the
picture, the payment is yours.
Many thanks.

garethmark --

The picture was taken at the East Front of the U.S. Capitol. Possibly
because there have been some small changes to the facade of the
building since your picture was taken, I am not entirely sure of
precisely where those pictured were standing, but it is probably near
the entrance of the House (north) side of the Capitol.

The giveaway in your photo is the decorative stonework directly
beneath the pillars in the upper left of your picture.  Here is a link
to a photo of the Capitol that shows the same decorative pattern
(click on the center picture in the top row for a large image):
House of Hum: Photo Gallery
http://www.houseofhum.com/stephen/photo/gallery_bw.html

At the above linked page, you can click on "Photographer's Notes" at
the bottom to see the identification of the building as the U.S.
Capitol.


As an aid to locating the precise spot where the picture was taken,
look first at the following linked image of the East Front of the
Capitol:

Architect of the Capital: East Front
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/c_ef_1.htm

This image shows the location of the similarly designed Senate and
House facades at each end of the building, facing the parking lot.

Now, here are links to closer-up images of both the House and the
Senate East Entrances:

Ben's Guide: U.S. Senate
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/print/senate.html

Ben's Guide: U.S. House of Representatives
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/print/house.html

Note that both locations feature the same railings, lightpost and
pillars as the image showing the telltale decorative stonework.

As noted above, I think it is possible that your photo was taken at
either end of the Capitol. However, I think it is more likely to have
been taken at the north (House) end of the building, because some of
the fuzzy images in the upper right background of your photo look like
the camera was pointed toward the rest of the building to the south.


Search Strategy:

I had a hunch at the outset that this was the Capitol (I used to spend
some time there on business).  So I focused by searching for images of
the Capitol, and I happened upon the critical one after this simple
simple search at Google Images:
us capitol
http://images.google.com/images?q=us+capitol&svnum=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=20&sa=N

I then performed several other Google searches to try to locate the
exact location of your photo.  If you are interested in more
information about the Capitol and its architecture, you might enjoy
perusing the highest ranked results of these searches:

us capitol architecture
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=u%2Es%2E+capitol+architecture

us capitol "east front"
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=u.s.+capitol+east+front

I am confident that this is the information you are looking for, and
that you will be able to locate fairly precisely where your picture
was taken.  If anything is unclear, please ask for clarification
before rating the answer.


markj-ga

Very good answer to my first Answers question.  I'm pleased! Thanks!

A minor thing - Please see on this picture from 1937, (boy scouts) :
http://www.pinetreeweb.com/1937-nj1-24-capitol-steps.jpg

Note the fencing added.

nvachro --

Thanks much for the five stars, the kind words and the tip.

markj-ga

Whoops -- I addressed my comment to the wrong guy!.  The thanks should
go to you, garethmark.

markj-ga