In Washington, D.C., about two blocks from the White House, there`s a Christian Science church that looks more like a concrete fortress than a house of worship. The Third Church of Christ, Scientist — or the Third Church — is a hulking mass of raw concrete. There`s one window, no steeple, and its bells are suspended from a slab of concrete that juts out from the side.

When it was built in 1971, it created a sensation. It still does.

"It`s like a weird box in the middle of Washington, with bells in one side," mused Beltran Romero, visiting the city from Spain. "What is it?" he asks, craning his neck. "Oh! It`s a church!"

LaVerne Hill, who works nearby, says she`s loathed the place for years. 
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