NATION'S CAPITAL; DOWNTOWN D.C. RICH IN HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE.

Byline: Ralph Vigoda Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

There was bird's nest soup on the menu at Go-Lo's, but I wasn't interested. I was curious about another kind of nest.

``The nest that hatched the egg,'' is the way Andrew Johnson put it, shortly after his White House predecessor, Abraham Lincoln, was shot. Johnson, of course, wasn't talking about the Chinese restaurant. He was, though, referring to the building in which Go-Lo's is now housed.

More than 130 years ago, this three-story structure at the corner of Sixth and H streets was Mary Surratt's boardinghouse. Here, John Wilkes Booth and his band planned the assassinations of Lincoln, Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward.

To find that Surratt's former inn is now a Chinese restaurant isn't surprising; after all, it's located in the middle of Chinatown, in the heart of the city's downtown section.

But the fact that it has survived at all is unusual. Downtown Washington has worn numerous faces, through often turbulent times. Even though it's still standing, the Surratt boardinghouse is largely forgotten, save for a small plaque on the restaurant.

Far more famous from that era is Ford's Theatre, a few blocks away on 10th Street, where Lincoln was shot. And right across the street from the theater is the Petersen House, where the president died in a back bedroom at 7:22 on the morning of April 15, 1865. Both spots are heavily trafficked by tourists. But visitors aren't often inclined to venture much deeper into downtown. The attractions of the Mall, a few blocks south, or the areas past the White House to the west hold much more allure.

That's too bad, because downtown has a wealth of history, some of the strangest statuary in the city, phenomenal museums, a somber monument to slain police officers, and perhaps the grandest indoor space in the city. That's the National Building Museum, for a century known as the Pension Building, where presidents have held their inaugural balls for more than 100 years.

One of the drawbacks, however, of downtown Washington, D.C. - sitting roughly in the quadrant formed by Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Louisiana Avenues - is that it has not completely escaped its past. At one time in the 19th century, it was a slum of such infamy that part of it was known as Murder Bay. Gambling salons and bordellos were all over. Thieves and pickpockets preyed on a swelling populace.

The turn of the century marked the beginning of an upturn as downtown evolved into the city's entertainment hub. But then came decades of decline, and the 1968 riots after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seemed to sound a death knell. By the 1970s, most of the entertainment showplaces had been demolished or converted.

Blighted areas remain, and there are still dingy buildings and boarded-up stores. However, the fact that you can barely look down a street without seeing a crane attests to the fact that the area is undergoing a dramatic facelift. In what essentially began as an unplanned revival, trendy art galleries and funky bistros have opened along the Seventh Street corridor. Planet Hollywood and the Hard Rock Cafe have moved in. Richard Branson has said he'll open one of his Virgin Records megastores here. Sony is interested in space.

The completion of the MCI Center, which will take up the entire block between Eighth, Ninth, G and H streets, will be another shot in the arm. Scheduled to open Dec. 2, the 20,000-seat arena will be home to the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Capitals and will serve as a state-of-the-art concert venue.

But, frankly, it's not the new, massive edifices that attract me. It's the old, massive edifices, many of which have been converted into spectacular museums, like the back-to-back National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of American Art.

It's places such as the church where the Lincoln family worshiped, the little Darlington Fountain that caused outrage when it was unveiled in 1923, and the parklets that dot the area, perfect for sitting on a bench with a snack.

To see everything requires some stamina, a good pair of shoes and a full weekend. Pressed for time? Certainly, Ford's Theatre and the Petersen House should be seen; both are on 10th Street between E and F streets. The theater has been restored to its 1865 appearance, including the Presidential Box, and can be toured when there are no rehearsals or plays. In the basement, open anytime, is a wonderful museum with exhibits detailing the history of the theater, and events up to and after the assassination. On display are the murder weapon, the coat Lincoln wore the night he was shot and many other artifacts.

Lincoln was carried across the street to the home of tailor William Petersen, a boardinghouse not unlike Mary Surratt's. The three rooms on the first floor include the front parlor, where Mary Todd Lincoln sat through the night; the back parlor, where Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ran the government for a day; and the back bedroom, where Lincoln lay dying.

To see more of Lincoln, walk southeast to D Street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, the Judiciary Square area. There, in front of the D.C. Courthouse - an elongated Greek Revival building that was once City Hall - stands the first statue of Lincoln erected in Washington. It was dedicated April 15, 1868.

On the north side of the courthouse is a deteriorating statue of a fawn and a nymph. The nymph is naked - a fact that caused a bit of public outrage when the statue was put on display in 1923 to honor local lawyer Joseph Darlington.

Behind the courthouse, on E Street between Fourth and Fifth, is the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, dedicated by President Bush in 1991 to honor the nearly 14,000 police officers who have died in the line of duty since 1794. The 3-acre space is lined with two long, 3-foot-high concrete walls engraved with names. At the visitors center two blocks away (Sixth and E streets), an interactive video system displays a photo and brief biography of officers who died.

At the north end of the memorial is one of the most impressive buildings in the city. The old Pension Building is a brick Victorian masterpiece, designed by Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs and constructed between 1882 and 1887 for workers processing the pension claims of veterans and their survivors.

In 1885, Grover Cleveland held his inaugural ball in the courtyard, and presidents have been using it on and off since. It is the site of the ``Christmas in Washington'' TV special each December on NBC. The building has escaped more than a few attempts to tear it down; in 1985, it reopened as the National Building Museum, devoted to architects and building arts.

The great space inside is marked by some of the largest interior columns in the world - 75 feet high, 25 feet in circumference. You'll swear they're marble; in fact, they are brick, covered with plaster and painted in 1895.

For a somewhat smaller red-brick building with historical significance, walk a block to Third and G streets. There stands the little Old Adas Israel Synagogue, the oldest in Washington. It was built in 1876 three blocks away and moved to this site in 1969 to make way for an office building. Before the move, one of the rabbis was Morris Yoelson. His son, Al, changed his last name to ``Jolson.'' The synagogue now houses the Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum, dedicated to Jewish life in Washington.

A few doors away, at 595 Third St., is Holy Rosary Catholic Church, which offers a service every Sunday morning in Italian, along with two Masses in English.

Another colossal, must-see building is at F and Seventh streets: The Patent Office Building. Construction started in the late 1830s and took nearly 30 years; when completed, it was the biggest building in America. During the Civil War, it was turned into a hospital, with Clara Barton and Walt Whitman ministering to the sick.

Deserted in the early 1960s, it was almost demolished for a parking lot. In 1968, the Smithsonian Institution took it over and established the National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of American Art.

Another theme museum - the National Museum of Women in the Arts - is on the western edge of downtown, at 13th and New York Avenue. Work of female artists from the Renaissance onward is displayed. The building, finished in 1911, was once a Masonic Temple - for men only.

One of the world's most famous hotels is at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Since its renovation and reopening in 1986, it has been called the Willard-Inter-Continental. It was just the Willard Hotel when the original building went up in 1816, and it quickly became the place to stay for Washingtonians and out-of-towners of wealth, fame and power. Legend has it that President Ulysses Grant first used the term ``lobbyists'' to describe the power brokers who hung around the Willard lobby. You don't have to be famous to stay there now, but being rich would help. Suites cost thousands for a night, although weekend rates are in the $200-$300 range for a double.

Before you leave downtown, scoot over to Pennsylvania Avenue at Seventh Street to see the odd Temperance Fountain. Topped by the statue of a crane, it was erected in 1880 by teetotaling San Franciscan Henry Cogswell, who thought that if city folk had a fountain always spewing water, they would forsake alcohol to quench their thirst.

Doing research on African-American history? The Martin Luther King Library (Ninth and G streets) is the place. The library also has an extensive collection devoted to the history of the city.

When you get hungry, why not do Chinese? You'll know you're in Chinatown when you pass the largest Chinese arch in the world - 75 feet wide, it arcs over H Street at Seventh. You may, in fact, want to try the daily special at Go-Lo's. Just remember, as you down the lo mein, that 133 years ago a group of pro-South conspirators got together - perhaps right where you are sitting - and planned an event that shook the world.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Perhaps the grandest indoor space in downtown Washington, D.C., is the National Building Museum with its massive columns. Presidents have held their inaugural balls there for more than 100 years.

(2--Color) The capital is filled with parks where visitors can have an alfresco lunch.

(3) President Lincoln was shot inside Ford's Theatre, making the 10th Street landmark infamous in the nation's capital.

Ralph Vigoda/Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service