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The United States Department of the Treasury Building, at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, is the third oldest building in Washington, dating from 1836. Robert Mills was commissioned to design the T-shaped Greek Revival building after the two previous structures had burned down.
The Department of Treasury, established by an Act of U.S. Congress in 1789 to manage the revenue of the United States government, prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint. Alexander Hamilton, of whom a statue stands on the south wing, was sworn in as the first Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789.
The Department of Treasury moved into a porticoed Gregorian-style building, designed by George Hadfield in 1800 when the federal government moved from Philadelphia. The structure was destroyed by the British in 1814, but rebuilt by James Hobson. It was again burned, this time by arsonists in 1833, with only the fireproof wing left standing.
Three years later, on July 4, 1836, Congress authorized construction of a new East and Center Wings. The most architecturally impressive feature of the Mills design is the 341-foot long colonnade of thirty 36-foot tall columns carved out of a single block of granite. The material for the original Wing was Acquia Creek freestone, which was largely replaced with granite in 1908. The interior design of the east and center wings is classically austere, in keeping with the Greek Revival style.
In 1855, Congress granted authority to extend the building. Construction of what is now the South Wing was begun in July 1855 and completed and occupied in September 1861. Construction started on the west wing in 1855 and was completed and occupied in 1864. The preliminary design of the wings was provided by Thomas Ustick Walter, but construction began under the supervision of Ammi B. Young and from 1862 until 1867 by Isaiah Rogers. While the exterior of the building was executed along the lines of the original Mills wings, the interiors of the later wings reflect changes in both building technology and aesthetic tastes. Iron columns and beams reinforced the building's brick vaults, and the architectural detailing became much more ornate, following mid-nineteenth century fashion.
The final addition came in 1867 in the form of the North Wing, which displaced the Department of State Building. Designed by Alfred B. Mullett, the wing contains the Cash Room, opened in 1869 as the site of Ulysses S. Grant's Inaugural Ball. It is a two-story marble hall in which the daily financial business was transacted. The Attic story, now the Treasury Building's fifth floor, was added in 1910. A statue of Albert Gallatin, the 4th and longest serving Secretary, sits on the North Patio.
The stone used in the South Wing, the West Wing and the North Wing, was quarried on Dix Island, near Rockland, Maine, and transported in sailing vessels. The facades are adorned by monolithic columns of the Ionic order, each 36 feet tall and weighing 30 tons. Each column cost $5,000. There are 18 columns on the west side and 10 each on the north and south sides..
Lafayette Square Historic District, roughly bordered by 15th and 17th Sts. and H St. and State and Treasury Places, exclusive of the White House and its grounds, covers the seven-acre public park, Lafayette Square, and its surrounding structures including the Executive Office Building, Blair House, the Treasury Building, the Decatur House, and St. John's Episcopal Church.
Department of Treasury National Register #71001007 (1971)
Fifteenth Street Historic District National Register #84003900 (2006)
Lafayette Square Historic District National Register #70000833 (1970)
Tags: United States Department of the Treasury Department of Treasury Treasury Department District of Columbia DC Washington DC DCist Lafayette Square Historic District DC Inventory of Historic Sites District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places NHL Alfred B. Mullett Albert Gallatin Alfred Mullett greek revival NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places historic district U.S. Historic District National Historic Landmark landmark U.S. National Historic Landmark Fifteenth Street Historic District historic district U.S. District historic district
James Earl Fraser's statue of Alexander Hamilton, standing on the south patio of the Department of Treasury Building, was commissioned in 1917 and dedicated on May 17, 1923. Frasier, who also designed the buffalo nickel for the Treasury, depicts Hamilton standing, holding a long dress coat in one hand and a three-cornered hat in the other. He is dressed in knee breeches, a hose, a fichu at the throat, ruffles at the wrist and low, buckled shoes. The 10-foot tall bronze sculpture, founded by Kunst Foundry rests atop architect Henry Bacon's 9-foot high Stoney Creek granite base.
The front of the base carries the following inscription:
Alexander Hamilton
1757-1804
First Secretary of the Treasury
Soldier, Orator, Statesman
Champion of Constitutional Union, Representative Government and National Integrity
The north side of the base adds:
He smote the rock of the national resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of the public credit and it sprang upon its feet.
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), an American politician, leading statesman, financier, intellectual, military officer, and founder of the Federalist party, was sworn in as the first Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789. As Secretary, he convinced Congress to use an elastic interpretation of the Constitution to pass far-reaching laws including the creation of a national debt, federal assumption of the state debts, and creation of a national bank all financed by a tariff on imports and a tax on whiskey.
The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department and the treasury of the United States government. It was established by an Act of U.S. Congress in 1789 to manage the revenue of the United States government. The Department prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint.
The United States Department of the Treasury Building, at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, is the third oldest building in Washington, dating from 1836. Robert Mills was commissioned to design the T-shaped Greek Revival building after the two previous structures had burned down. The Department of Treasury, established by an Act of U.S. Congress in 1789 to manage the revenue of the United States government, prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint.
National Register #71001007 (1971)
Fifteenth Street Historic District National Register #84003900 (2006)
Lafayette Square Historic District National Register #70000833 (1970)
Tags: Alexander Hamilton James Earl Fraser statue sculpture Secretary of Treasury Founding Father Revolutionary War Hero Revolutionary War American Revolution henry bacon kunst foundry foundingfathers Signer of the declaration of independence United States Department of the Treasury Department of Treasury Treasury Department District of Columbia DC Washington DC DCist Lafayette Square Historic District DC Inventory of Historic Sites District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places NHL NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places historic district U.S. Historic District National Historic Landmark landmark U.S. National Historic Landmark Fifteenth Street Historic District historic district U.S. District historic district
The White House has served as the executive residence and principal workplace of every President of the United States of America since John Adams. At various times in its history, it has been called the "President's Palace," the "President's House," and the "Executive Mansion." President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901--a reference to the 570 gallons of white paint covering its exterior. Originally built between 1792 and 1800, and expanded over the years, today the White Houses consists of three major parts: The East Wing; the West Wing, housing the offices of the President and senior staff, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, the Press Briefing Room, and the Roosevelt Room; and the Executive Residence.
Following the Act of Congress in December 1790 declaring current day Washington D.C. as the new seat of the federal government, President George Washington and city planner Pierre L'Enfant chose the site for a new presidential mansion--1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Irish-born architect James Hoban's design of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style was selected from a competition with eight other entries. Construction began on October 13, 1792, with Washington overseeing the laying of the cornerstone. Initial construction took place over a period of eight years, at a reported cost of $232,371.83, largely using slave and immigrant labor.
Second President of the United States John Adams became the first chief executive to take residence on November 1, 1800, while it was still unfinished. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson and architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe expanded the residence, creating the East and West Colonnades, concealing the domestic operations of laundry, a stable and storage. It was President Jefferson who first opened the house for tours, and it has has remained open to the public ever since.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by British troops, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior walls. Reconstruction began almost immediately and President James Monroe moved back in by October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. In 1835, running water and central heating were installed. In 1848, gaslight was installed. Covered pavilions and then large greenhouses for growing flowers and vegetables were constructed on either side of the mansion. Victorian ornamentation and decor were added from the 1870s to the 1890s. Electric lights supplemented gaslights in 1891, and the first electric elevator was added in 1898.
In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt began extensive renovations. To address the overcrowding in the executive mansion, he also built a new one-story office structure, connected to the Residence Jefferson's west colannade and giving rise to the West Wing. Roosevelt also built an early-one-story East Wing as a formal guest entrance and removed the Victorian ornamentation and restored the mansion to the federal style with Georgian touches.
In 1909, William Howard Taft remodeled the interior of the West Wing, creating the Oval Office. In 1927, a new roof and third floor were added to Residence. A Christmas Eve electrical fire in 1929 significantly damaged the West Wing, which Herbert Hoover had the building remodeled without making significant changes. In 1934, Franklin Roosevelt added a second floor to the West Wing and moved the Oval Office to the southeast corner. He also added a swimming pool and gymnasium in the gallery (later replaced by Richard Nixon's bowling alley). The present East Wing was expanded in the 1940's, creating additional office space, balancing the enlarged West Wing, and covering the construction of the underground air-raid bunker known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.
In 2007, the White House was ranked #2 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.
National Register #19600001
Tags: District of Columbia White House Pennsylvania Avenue NPS neoclassical sandstone mansion 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue North Lawn fountain North portico National Historic Site National Historic Park American Renaissance neoclassicism DC landmark AIA150 james hoban Washington DC DCist District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites DC Inventory of Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmark NHL U.S. National Historic Landmark
The White House has served as the executive residence and principal workplace of every President of the United States of America since John Adams. At various times in its history, it has been called the "President's Palace," the "President's House," and the "Executive Mansion." President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901--a reference to the 570 gallons of white paint covering its exterior. Originally built between 1792 and 1800, and expanded over the years, today the White Houses consists of three major parts: The East Wing; the West Wing, housing the offices of the President and senior staff, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, the Press Briefing Room, and the Roosevelt Room; and the Executive Residence.
Following the Act of Congress in December 1790 declaring current day Washington D.C. as the new seat of the federal government, President George Washington and city planner Pierre L'Enfant chose the site for a new presidential mansion--1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Irish-born architect James Hoban's design of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style was selected from a competition with eight other entries. Construction began on October 13, 1792, with Washington overseeing the laying of the cornerstone. Initial construction took place over a period of eight years, at a reported cost of $232,371.83, largely using slave and immigrant labor.
Second President of the United States John Adams became the first chief executive to take residence on November 1, 1800, while it was still unfinished. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson and architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe expanded the residence, creating the East and West Colonnades, concealing the domestic operations of laundry, a stable and storage. It was President Jefferson who first opened the house for tours, and it has has remained open to the public ever since.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by British troops, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior walls. Reconstruction began almost immediately and President James Monroe moved back in by October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. In 1835, running water and central heating were installed. In 1848, gaslight was installed. Covered pavilions and then large greenhouses for growing flowers and vegetables were constructed on either side of the mansion. Victorian ornamentation and decor were added from the 1870s to the 1890s. Electric lights supplemented gaslights in 1891, and the first electric elevator was added in 1898.
In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt began extensive renovations. To address the overcrowding in the executive mansion, he also built a new one-story office structure, connected to the Residence Jefferson's west colannade and giving rise to the West Wing. Roosevelt also built an early-one-story East Wing as a formal guest entrance and removed the Victorian ornamentation and restored the mansion to the federal style with Georgian touches.
In 1909, William Howard Taft remodeled the interior of the West Wing, creating the Oval Office. In 1927, a new roof and third floor were added to Residence. A Christmas Eve electrical fire in 1929 significantly damaged the West Wing, which Herbert Hoover had the building remodeled without making significant changes. In 1934, Franklin Roosevelt added a second floor to the West Wing and moved the Oval Office to the southeast corner. He also added a swimming pool and gymnasium in the gallery (later replaced by Richard Nixon's bowling alley). The present East Wing was expanded in the 1940's, creating additional office space, balancing the enlarged West Wing, and covering the construction of the underground air-raid bunker known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.
In 2007, the White House was ranked #2 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.
National Register #19600001
Tags: District of Columbia White House perspective Pennsylvania Avenue NPS neoclassical sandstone mansion 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue North Lawn North Portico National Historic Site National Historic Park American Renaissance neoclassicism DC landmark AIA150 james hoban Washington DC DCist District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites DC Inventory of Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmark NHL U.S. National Historic Landmark