I did a search for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, DC (the White House), and found that all of the buildings in downtown Washington are rendered just as blocks instead of showing the actual buildings. I gather this is a national security precaution?
Adam
You got it.
Huh? My Google Earth renders the White House, The Capitol building and the Lincoln memorial.
I get a funny satellite view of the white house. It, the executive office building and the treasury department seem to have the images of the roofs painted with a uniform pixel color. The roofs don’t seem to have any features at all. The interior courtyards in the latter two buildings have large blocky pixels where the trees around the white house are shown in extremely fine detail. It’s pretty clear the satellite images were manipulated by hand.
I wouldn’t be suprised if some anti aircraft stuff was edited out or something.
Agent Foxtrot, I think you have the 3D Building Layer on.
Buh? The photos are not always taken with a satellite directly overhead so many objects appear to be slanted and show 3-D relief. It isn’t a featur than can be turned on and off.
No, there is a feature that renders 3D models of the buildings. Check the Layers menu near the bottom and check the 3D Buildings.
Ah, I must be looking at something different http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1600+pennsylvania+ave,+Washington+DC&spn=0.020592,0.034369&hl=en
Which doesn’t have that feature.
Oooh then you are missing out:
Ah-hah. Thank you. 
Adam
It does that for all buildings. Look at downtown New Orleans and the Superdome is a Supercylinder.
The 3D buildings are pretty primative… my favorite is the Gateway Slab in St. Louis.