Chapter XXI: Public and Semipublic Buildings (2)

The plant, as taken over in 1861, employed between 300 and 400 persons and evidently was, for that period, very complete. It consisted of a drying room, pressroom, wetting room, job room, folding room, reading room, office, bindery, machine shop, boiler house, and stable. Among some of the items of equipment were 1 timepiece, 5 wrenches, one 40-horse engine, 104 pressboards, 2 wetting tubs, and a large assortment of book and job type. The reading room had eight armchairs, two pine desks, and one mahogany desk. The bindery had but few machines, with only 2 ruling and 2 cutting machines, but the list carried 10 pairs of shears, 4 bodkins, and other minor equipment. The pressroom had 23 Adams presses and 3 cylinder presses. With the stable came two horses, one wagon, and one carryall, and the boiler house had one 60-horse boiler, 525 feet of fire hose, five buckets, etc.

On March 23, 1861, President Lincoln appointed Hon. John Defrees, of Indiana, as the Superintendent of Public Printing. He reported that at once the cost of work decreased at least 15 percent from the old contract prices.

On March 3, 1873, the printing of the debates of Congress, then known as the Congressional Globe and handled under private contract, was taken over by the Government Printing Office and thereafter became the Congressional Record.

In 1876, Hon. A. M. Clapp, then Congressional Printer, was designated the first Public Printer, at a yearly salary of $3,600. Composing rooms employed 520 persons, pressroom 209, and bindery 591; in all, 1,361 persons were on the roll. The total yearly pay roll was $786,493. It cost $188,198 to print the Congressional Record in 1876, while binding of all kinds cost $402,069, paper $298,251, and the total output of the Office was charged at $1,617,469. The total purchase of machinery and equipment in that year was only $342.50.

In 1878 the building known as the Globe Vault was purchased from the private owner, together with the bound and unbound volumes of the Congressional Globe and all the stereotyped plates. The price paid was $100,000.

Fireproof extensions to the Government Printing Office were erected in 1879 and 1880. In 1882 the first fire escapes were installed, and force pumps proved such an attraction to the public that the apparatus had to be covered with canvas. Bows and arrows were also provided which would enable life lines to be “shot” through the upper windows.

By the act of January 12, 1895, the Office of the Superintendent of Documents was established in the Government Printing Office. Previously it was a part of the Interior Department. The principal functions of the office were the preparation of the official catalogs and indexes of the Government and distribution and sale of Government publications.

The Office was placed under operation of the civil-service law August 1, 1895. In the same year the Annex Building, formerly used by the Superintendent of Documents, was constructed, and in the following year the Public Printer reported the total floor space of the entire Office had increased to 8³⁄₄ acres.

In 1898 Congress appropriated $190,000 for the purchase of ground occupied by the present building. In 1899 the building was started. It was completed about 4 years thereafter, at a cost of $2,430,000.

In 1903 a small space in the Old Building was set aside as the “sick room.” Its equipment consisted of a cot, blanket, and a small supply of medicines contributed by the employees. This was the nucleus from which developed the first emergency hospital in any Government establishment and was the initial step toward scientific medical and surgical service. In 1907 an emergency room was installed and an additional physician and matron were assigned to that service.

The first linotype machine and the first monotype keyboard were installed in 1904. In 1912 electric trucks displaced the horse-and-wagon delivery. In 1915 the Government Printing Office was an exhibitor at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco, Calif.

Between 1921 and 1934 several innovations were made. A few of the outstanding are as follows: The eighth floor was remodeled and raised to provide room for the Cafeteria, Harding Hall, recreation rooms, rest rooms, and large space for productive work. The Cafeteria serves around 2,800 meals daily, and Harding Hall, seating 1,200, is devoted to social activities of employees and may be quickly converted into a ballroom, a motion-picture theater, or a forum. Recreational activities include orchestra, baseball clubs, bowling alleys, dances, moving pictures and lectures, annual excursions, and similar affairs. The photo-engraving plant was also added as one of the new mechanical departments and is also located on the eighth floor. A roof garden was built, covering practically the entire building. The emergency hospital was enlarged, and wards for men and women were provided, with beds, toilets, and shower baths.

Two hundred apprentices received training for occupational pursuits in the various printing and bindery trades represented in the Office.

A testing laboratory was established in the Office for the purpose of standardizing all materials, supplies, and stock used in the manufacture of printing.

The boiler and generating rooms were abolished, and the purchase of electric current and steam from the Capital Power Plant was started.

Since 1934, under the direction of Public Printer A. E. Giegengack, the Government Printing Office has continued to grow not only in size but also in public esteem. Under his leadership, appropriations for a much-needed building program were granted by Congress, and the erection of a warehouse and an eight-story, red-brick addition to the main Printing Office building was accomplished. The cost of this building program, which included buildings, machinery and equipment, furnishings, the expense of moving, and other incidentals, amounted to $7,700,000.

Among the many noteworthy improvements inaugurated for the betterment of service to the Government, to the public, and to the 5,500 employees of the Office, are the following:

The establishment of a department of typography, through which there are incorporated into Government printing the accepted improvements in the field of typography; the standardization of a type-metal alloy for all type-casting machines; the installation of a more efficient cost-finding and pay-roll bookkeeping system; the reestablishment of the Government Printing Office Apprentice School; and encouragement of greater employee participation in all social, fraternal, and welfare activities sponsored by the Office.

Uncle Sam’s Book Shop sold 10 million copies from its list of 65,000 publications in 1937. This department is called the Office of the Superintendent of Documents, which is located in the Government Printing Office building, and these Government publications, covering almost every phase of human endeavor, are for sale to the public at a reasonable price.

THE WHITE HOUSE

The site of the White House, or the President’s House, was selected by President Washington. It was part of the David Burnes farm, and at the time it was chosen a cornfield extended one-half mile south to the Potomac.

The cornerstone of the President’s House was laid on October 13, 1792, but not by George Washington, as the records show that he and his family were in Philadelphia at the time. The design was made by James Hoban, an architect of Dublin, Ireland, who won a $500 prize and a lot for the best plan. In its exterior it somewhat resembles the palace of the Duke of Leinster in Ireland. That, however, has Corinthian columns over a rusticated base, showing the influence of the Renaissance in England; and there are other distinctions in their classical motives.

The White House was first occupied by President and Mrs. John Adams, who moved in the latter part of November, 1800, the year Washington became the seat of government. At the time it was very incomplete, and much discomfort was experienced, particularly as to heating and lighting. The East Room was used to dry the family wash. The White House was not finished until 1826. Then and for many years following it secured its water from springs a short distance to the northeast, in the vicinity of what is now Franklin Square.

The President’s House, as it was then called, was considerably damaged by fire by the British, who threatened the destruction of the city in 1814. The building, except for the wings at each side, which were used for offices and servants’ quarters, was restored by Hoban. Of white sandstone, the building which became discolored by the fire was thereupon painted white and has since been known as the White House. It was first lighted by gas in 1848, and a system of heating and ventilating was installed in 1853.

The White House was remodeled during the administration of President Roosevelt in 1902, when the Executive Office was taken out of the building and placed in a temporary building to the west of the main building. This was enlarged during the administration of President Taft in 1909 to twice its former size. It was further remodeled in 1927 by making the building fireproof and constructing a third story out of the attic.

In 1929 it was found necessary by President Hoover to use also the basement for an office. In the same year the building was partially burned, but has since been rebuilt. It is thought by some that in the years to come the remodeled State Department Building will become the permanent Executive Office Building, and the State Department will have a new building on the west side of Lafayette Square.

The White House has a length of 183 feet (east and west) and a width of 85 feet; it is 58 feet high. The portico of Ionic columns forms a porte-cochère and measures 40 feet by 59 feet (east and west), and is 50 feet high.

The building contains many beautiful paintings and other works of art, among them a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, called the Lansdowne Stuart, which was saved by Dolly Madison by cutting the picture from its frame when the White House was burned by the British in 1814. It is now in the East Room, which is the great reception room, 82 feet long (the width of the mansion), 40 feet wide, and 22 feet high. From the ceiling hang three massive crystal chandeliers. In addition to numerous paintings, large vases and other articles adorn the room.

Other interesting rooms are the State Dining Room, the scene of brilliant State functions; the Blue Room--the President’s reception room--the walls of which are covered with rich blue corded silk, with window hangings of blue; the Red Room, the walls and window draperies of which are of red velvet; and the Green Room, which has on the walls green velvet. The wainscoting of the Green Room is of white enamel.

Large and beautiful grounds bound the White House on the south. Here the Marine Band plays every Saturday afternoon during the summer months. Also it is here where the annual Easter egg rolling takes place, always a great day for the boys and girls of Washington. The area is called the White Lot because about 1850 a board fence that later was painted white surrounded these grounds.

Originally the main entrance to the White House was on the south side, while the portico on the opposite side was a garden where the family spent their evenings. This is the arrangement observed to-day at Arlington House and at Mount Vernon, and is an indication that in the colonial days the back yards of homes were as nicely kept as were the front yards.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

In 1788 the Department of Foreign Affairs moved from Fraunce’s Tavern to a house owned by Philip Livingston, on the west side of Broadway, near the Battery, in New York City. Later it moved to another house on the same street on the opposite side. The Capital having been again located at Philadelphia, the department took up its abode first on Market Street, then on the southeast corner of Arch and Sixth Streets, then in North Alley, and finally at the northeast corner of Fifth and Chestnut Streets, where it remained until it was moved to Washington, except for an interval of three months--from August to November, 1798--when it occupied the statehouse at Trenton, N. J., the office being moved from Philadelphia on account of an epidemic of yellow fever.

On July 27, 1789, the act establishing an executive department to be called the Department of Foreign Affairs was approved; but the Sedgwick Act, approved September 15, 1789, changed this title to the Department of State and that of the principal officer to the Secretary of State. A few days later John Jay, who was Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Confederation, was nominated to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Thomas Jefferson to be Secretary of State, and both were commissioned on September 26. Jay accepted at once, but continued to discharge the duties of Secretary of State for some months. Under date of October 13 President Washington informed Jefferson of his appointment, and added that Mr. Jay had been so obliging as to continue his good offices. When this letter was written Jefferson had not returned to America from his mission to France. Upon his arrival Jay recommended to him favorably “the young gentlemen in the office.” Jefferson formally entered upon the discharge of his duties on March 22, 1790.

When the seat of government was established in the District of Columbia in 1800 the archives and the seven employees of the Department of State were crowded into the Treasury Office, a building of 30 rooms, to the east of the White House. It was the only Government building sufficiently completed to receive them. John Marshall was then Secretary of State. On August 27, 1800, the Department of State was removed to one of the Seven Buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue and Nineteenth Street NW.

It has been interesting to determine positively the name of this historic group of buildings, because some confusion has arisen through there being in 1800 two groups or rows of houses, near to one another, one called the Six Buildings and the other the Seven Buildings. Christian Hines, in his Early Recollections of Washington City (1866), says, when giving a list of the few houses standing in the year 1800:

One square between Pennsylvania Avenue and K and Twenty-first and
Twenty-second Streets, the Six Buildings, three stories high,
owners and occupants not recollected * * *. One square bounded by
Pennsylvania Avenue and I and Nineteenth and Twentieth Streets, 10
houses--one 3-story frame, occupied by a Mr. Middleton; one 2-Story
frame, owned and occupied by William Waters, Esq., and the Seven
Buildings, brick, 3 stories high.

Samuel C. Busey, in his Pictures of the City of Washington in the Past (1898), refers to and confirms Hines’s statements as to these two sets of buildings, and adds that in the Six Buildings was located O’Neal’s famous hotel. All writers apparently agree that the first home of the Department of State in Washington was in the house on the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Nineteenth Street. This row of buildings--Nos. 1901-1913 Pennsylvania Avenue--is still standing, though it has undergone considerable change.

From the early part of 1820 to November, 1866, the Department of State was located at the corner of Fifteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW., in what was known as the Executive Building. The picture shown below was given to William McNeir, chief of the division of accounts of that department, by Thomas Ridgate, who found it in the attic of the old building. It will be noted from the picture, which shows the Treasury Department Building columns at the extreme left, that it was taken before the building was razed to make room for the north wing of the present Treasury Department Building; the rest of the new building had at that time been erected. Of this building Jonathan Eliot states, in his Historical Sketches of the Ten Mile Square, describing Washington in 1830:

At the distance of about 200 yards, on the east of the President’s
house, are situated two buildings for the Department of State and of
the Treasury; and at the same distance on the west are two others for
the War and Navy Departments. These buildings are all of the same
dimensions and construction; they are 160 feet long and 55 feet wide,
of brick, two stories in height; they are divided in their length by
a broad passage, with rooms on each side, and a spacious staircase
in the center. The two most northerly buildings are ornamented with
an Ionic portico of six columns and pediment. The grounds about
these offices have been graduated and planted of late years, and the
shrubbery begins to present a pleasing appearance.

W. K. Force, in his Picture of Washington for 1850, said, speaking of the northeast Executive Building:

The first floor is occupied by the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury at
the east end, and the Second Comptroller of the Treasury at the west
end. On the second floor are the apartments of the Secretary of State
and his suite; also the library of the department, containing some
ten or twelve thousand volumes.

John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State when the move to this new home was made, and thereafter followed a long list of distinguished Secretaries, the last to occupy this building being William H. Seward, from 1861 to 1869.

The north wing of the present Treasury Department Building bears on its exterior wall on Fifteenth Street a tablet, erected April 30, 1929, by the Kiwanis Club of Washington, in cooperation with the Committee on Marking Points of Historic Interest, which contains the following inscription:

FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA WAS DEVELOPED AND
STRENGTHENED BY THE SIGNING OF THE WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY, ON
AUGUST 9, 1842, IN THE OLD STATE DEPARTMENT BUILDING WHICH STOOD ON
THIS SITE. THIS TREATY ESTABLISHED THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY BETWEEN
THE TWO COUNTRIES.

On March 3, 1871, Congress appropriated half a million dollars to start work on the State, War, and Navy Departments Building. The act provided:

For the construction under the direction of the Secretary of State,
on the southern portion of the premises now occupied by the War and
Navy Departments, of a building which will form the south wing of a
building that, when completed, will be similar in ground plan and
dimensions to the Treasury Building and provide accommodations for
the State, War, and Navy Departments.

The original plans were drawn by Thomas U. Walter, a noted Philadelphia architect, who designed the Dome of the Capitol and the completed Treasury Building, but A. B. Mullett, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, undertook the work, and finally only the interior conformed to the original plans.

The building was erected in five different sections. The south wing was commenced in 1871 and completed in time for the Department of State to move in July 1, 1875. The east wing was commenced in 1872 and completed seven years later, so that on April 16, 1879, the War and Navy Departments moved into that wing. The old War Department Building, which had occupied the site of the north wing of the present building, was demolished in 1879, and the new building or north wing was completed three years later, the War Department moving into it in December, 1882. The west and center wings were the last to be erected, work on them commencing March 31, 1883, and being completed January 31, 1888. For a long time each wing was necessarily separated by a solid wall--and later by an iron grill, or gates in the corridors--but finally these disappeared, and the beauty of the long corridors as they now are appeared. The total cost of the whole building was slightly more than $10,000,000, and appropriations therefor spread over a period of 17 years. Separate permanent buildings for the War and the Navy Departments are now to be erected, these two departments being housed at present largely in temporary buildings. The Department of State alone remains in the building.

In 1910 a building for the Department of State was recommended for a site along Fifteenth Street, south of Pennsylvania Avenue, where now the Department of Commerce has been built. In 1917 it was recommended that a Department of State Building be erected on the west side of Lafayette Square.

In the new Federal building program Congress has provided that the present State, War, and Navy Building be remodeled to conform in design to the Treasury Department Building, and to be known as the Department of State Building. The building will thus properly balance the White House. Congress made a fund of $3,000,000 available for this work. The Secretary of the Treasury appointed Waddy Wood, architect of Washington, to prepare the design, which has been approved by the Commission of Fine Arts. However, the project has been held in abeyance.

The Department of State was created as the first department of the Government in 1789, in order to help the President in carrying on our foreign relations. However, in the early years of our country the Department of State not only had charge of foreign affairs, but, as Thomas Jefferson, the first Secretary of State, once wrote, it also had charge of all important matters of domestic government as well, except matters of war and finance. In the early days the Secretary of State even managed the mint. Until 1849 he had charge of the Patent Office, until 1859 handled all copyright matters, and until 1850 the census of the United States was taken under his direction. Before the Civil War, United States judges, marshals, and attorneys all received their instructions from the Department of State, but in 1870 a new Department of Justice was established to take care of these matters, and little by little much of the domestic work was taken from this department and put under new departments, such as the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Commerce. Therefore, to-day the Department of State devotes most of its time to handling foreign affairs, although it is still the custodian, or the keeper, of the great seal, the official seal of the Government of the United States. When Congress passes new laws the original copies are kept in this department, and when there is any correspondence between the various States of the Union and the Federal Government it is carried on through the Department of State.

The Secretary of State has a force of some 950 people in the department in Washington, and about 3,800 people scattered over all the world in the Foreign Service of the United States. The department in Washington is divided into 35 divisions and offices, each with its special work to perform. Six divisions have charge of matters pertaining to foreign countries--South and Central America; the Far East, as China, Japan, and Siam; the division of Western European affairs; Eastern European affairs; a division of the Near East; and the Mexican division.

One of the largest offices in the department is the passport division, which issues passports to American citizens traveling in foreign countries. Last year 134,737 Americans obtained passports so that they might travel abroad, the fees for which amounted to nearly $1,500,000, almost enough to pay the entire expenses of the Department of State.

When foreigners wish to come to this country they must first go to one of our American consuls to obtain a visa or a permit. The immigration of foreigners into this country is now restricted by law. Therefore our consuls examine the foreigners abroad, so that they may know before starting on their journey whether they will be allowed to remain in this country. The visa division of the Department of State has charge of that work.

Whenever there are expositions or meetings of various kinds abroad, and it is decided that the United States Government shall take part in them, such participation has to be arranged through another of the divisions of the Department of State. As many as 150 cables are sent every day to all parts of the world, which are taken care of in the department’s telegraph office. In many foreign countries our Government is now buying and constructing its own buildings for our ambassadors and consuls, and one of the offices in the department attends to these matters.

The Secretary of State is assisted in the direction of all these officers and offices by an Under Secretary of State, four Assistant Secretaries of State, and a legal adviser. The United States has an ambassador or minister in 54 different countries of the world. There are 314 foreign commercial cities where the United States has a consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent, who, among other duties, help steamship lines and great business establishments to promote commerce with the United States. Our consuls protect and assist the hundreds of American missionaries whose stations are in remote foreign regions of the world. In addition to their many duties they help thousands of visitors during trips abroad who seek advice. And when an American is visiting in a foreign land, even though scenery and ruins that recall civilizations of past ages give him pleasure, there is nothing that gives him more joy than to see in such places the Stars and Stripes waving over a United States consulate.

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

The Department of the Treasury was created by act of Congress September 2, 1789. Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania, financier and statesman, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, was the first financial officer of the Government and was Superintendent of Finance from 1781 to 1784. Upon the resignation of Morris the powers conferred upon him by the Continental Congress were transferred to the Board of the Treasury. This board served until Alexander Hamilton, of New York, the first Secretary of the Treasury, assumed office. Hamilton served from September 11, 1789, to January 31, 1795, thus serving under President Washington. Since the formation of the Government there have been 50 Secretaries of the Treasury; the present incumbent, Hon. Henry Morgenthau, jr., of New York, assumed office January 1, 1934. The Secretary of the Treasury, of course, has supervision over the finances of the Government. The annual estimates, however, since 1921 have been transmitted to Congress by the Director of the Budget for the President of the United States.

The first building of the Treasury Department situated at this location east of the White House was a small wooden structure, called the State and Treasury Departments Building. It was built at the time the seat of government was established in the District of Columbia in 1800 and comprised 30 rooms. This original building was burned by the British during the invasion of Washington in 1814. A second building was erected. This was destroyed by fire in 1833. In 1836 Congress authorized the erection of “a fireproof building of such dimensions as may be required for the present and future accommodations.” Also the material for the building was to be similar to that used for the Capitol and the White House. The architect was Mr. Robert Mills, who at the same time was designing the Patent Office Building and later won the competition for the design of the Washington Monument. When it came to the question of location of the new building, it is said that President Andrew Jackson, becoming impatient at the delay, said “Here, right here, is where I want the corner stone laid.” Thus the building stands where it is to-day. In 1839 the department was installed in the unfinished building.

The Treasury Building consists of a 4-story rectangle around a large central court; this court is divided by a corridor of offices. On the west the building faces the beautiful White House Grounds, its north side is on Pennsylvania Avenue, its east front runs along Fifteenth Street, and its south side overlooks a half-mile stretch of park leading down to the Potomac River.

The building completed in 1842 included only the middle portion of the present east wing and the central corridor and offices. The south wing was completed in 1861, the west wing in 1864, and the north wing in 1869. It is an imposing granite structure. In design it is pure Grecian, furnishing what is claimed to be one of the finest examples of this style of architecture in Washington, if not in the entire country. There are great pediments on the north, south, and west sides. Monolithic columns of the Ionic order adorning the façades are the distinguishing feature of the building architecturally. There are 72 of these columns, each 36 feet in height, 30 being set to form an unbroken colonnade 341 feet long on the east front. Most of the granite used was brought to Washington in sailing vessels from Maine. The building has 488 rooms and cost over $6,000,000.

The department long ago outgrew the building. The personnel in Washington now numbers more than 22,000, with some 26 main bureaus and divisions. At present Department of the Treasury bureaus occupy, in addition to the main building, 9 entire buildings and part of 6 other buildings owned by the Government and 5 rented quarters. The Treasury Annex is an imposing building, designed by Cass Gilbert, across Pennsylvania Avenue on the north. Congress has authorized its extension to H Street.

The Department of the Treasury is the central agency through which the Federal Government conducts its financial affairs. Generally speaking, it receives and has custody of all funds paid to the Government and disburses all moneys of the Government. At the head of the department are the Secretary of the Treasury, the Under Secretary of the Treasury, and three Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury, whose offices are all located in the main building.

The receipts of the Government come chiefly from internal-revenue collections and customs duties. The Bureau of Internal Revenue administers and enforces the internal-revenue laws and collects all internal-revenue taxes. The personnel of this bureau has been brought together and now occupies a beautiful new building recently completed as part of the development along the Mall. Import duties or customs are collected by the Bureau of Customs.

Disbursements of Government funds can be made only on the authorization of Congress. When any payment is authorized, a warrant signed by the Secretary of the Treasury and countersigned by the Comptroller General of the United States is drawn. Upon this authority payment is made. The division of bookkeeping and warrants, under the general supervision of the commissioner of accounts and deposits, keeps complete records of all appropriation accounts as well as of public moneys covered into the Treasury and of warrants authorizing disbursements.

The Treasurer of the United States is charged with responsibility for the actual receipt and disbursement of all public moneys that may be deposited in the United States Treasury and in all other depositaries authorized to receive deposits of Government funds for credit in the account of the Treasurer of the United States. He has also many other fiscal duties.

The public-debt service handles the records and operations pertaining to the issue and retirement of the public debt and the interest payments thereon, under the supervision of the commissioner of the public debt.

The Bureau of the Mint manufactures the coin circulating medium of the country. It maintains mints at Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver for the coinage of money, as well as assay offices in New York and elsewhere. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing at Washington engraves and prints notes, bonds, securities, stamps, checks, etc.

The Comptroller of the Currency is charged under the law with the supervision of national banks.

OTHER IMPORTANT BUILDINGS

Lack of space in this book makes it necessary merely to mention the more important of the other monumental buildings in the National Capital. Detailed information concerning them may be found in the author’s Washington the National Capital and in other books on Washington. They should be studied in connection with the buildings described in this chapter.

Attention is called first to the group of monumental semipublic buildings, classical in design, on Seventeenth Street north of Constitution Avenue and along that Avenue from Seventeenth Street west to the Potomac River. It has been said that nowhere else in the world is there such a fine group of marble buildings.

THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART

This Gallery had its beginning in the year 1869. It ranks as one of the great art galleries in the United States. The present building (at New York Avenue and Seventeenth Street) was designed by Ernest Flagg, architect, and completed in 1897. It is built of Georgia marble. It houses rare masterpieces of painting and sculpture.

THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS

Adjacent to the Corcoran Gallery on the south, the American National Red Cross occupies three large buildings constructed of Vermont marble. They were designed by Trowbridge & Livingston, architects, of New York City. The Red Cross had its beginning during the Civil War. In 1905 the organization was chartered by Congress along its present lines. There are 5,500,000 adult members and 8,500,000 Junior members (as of June 30, 1938).

MEMORIAL CONTINENTAL HALL

The next building to the south is the headquarters of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It faces Seventeenth Street, was designed by Edward Pearce Casey, architect, built of Vermont marble, and completed in 1905. The cornerstone was laid April 19, 1904, the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. On that date the organization holds its convention in Washington each year. It was founded October 11, 1890, and on February 1, 1938, numbered 142,744 members, with about 2,500 chapters in all parts of the United States.

CONSTITUTION HALL

Another of the Society’s buildings, facing Eighteenth Street, in this square, is the leading auditorium of the city. It was designed by John Russell Pope, architect, built of Alabama limestone, and completed in October, 1929. The auditorium seats 4,000 persons. On page 278 there is a picture of the building. The mural decorations of the interior are by J. Monroe Hewlett, architect.

THE PAN AMERICAN BUILDING

This building, at the corner of Seventeenth Street and Constitution Avenue, is considered by some to be the most beautiful in Washington. It was designed by Albert C. Kelsey and Paul P. Cret, architects, in the Spanish-classical style of architecture. It was built of Georgia marble and was dedicated April 26, 1910. It is the headquarters of the 21 Republics of the Pan American Union. In it is the famous Hall of the Americas. Andrew Carnegie contributed $850,000 toward the building, and the United States Government contributed the 5-acre tract, on which stood the Van Ness Mansion (1815) and the David Burnes cottage, which stood there in the days of George Washington.

THE NEW DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUILDING

Designed by Waddy B. Wood, architect, the new Department of the Interior building occupies two squares between C and E and Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets. It is built of Indiana limestone and is the largest air-conditioned office building in the world.

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE BUILDING

This building, designed by J. H. deSibour, architect, is classical in design and built of white Georgia marble. It was completed in 1933. It is four stories in height and houses the large and growing office of the Surgeon General of the United States and his staff of assistants. In its location on Constitution Avenue it forms a part of the frame for the Lincoln Memorial.

FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD BUILDING

Completed in 1937, this building forms the center of the group of monumental marble buildings along Constitution Avenue west of Seventeenth Street. The design, by Paul P. Cret, architect, is based on classical motives. It is built of white Georgia marble. It is the headquarters building for the Federal Reserve Board. In it is a large mosaic map of the United States by Ezra Winter, mural painter, showing the location of the 12 Federal Reserve branch banks in the different sections of the country.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

This building, designed by Bertram G. Goodhue, architect, is immediately east of the Federal Reserve Board building. It is classical in design and built of white marble from Dover, N. Y. The building was dedicated by President Coolidge in April, 1924. The interior is decorated with paintings and decorations by Hildreth Meiere and Albert Herter; the sculptural decorations are by Lee Lawrie.

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHARMACY

Immediately north of the Lincoln Memorial stands the American Institute of Pharmacy. It was designed by John Russell Pope, architect, and built of white Vermont marble. It is classical in its style of architecture, and in its location west of the National Academy of Sciences completes the group of buildings on Constitution Avenue that form a frame for the Lincoln Memorial. The building is the headquarters of the druggists in the United States. More than 14,000 druggists subscribed toward the building fund. The Pharmacopoeia of the United States, under which prescriptions and drugs are standardized, is supervised by the Institute.

SCOTTISH RITE TEMPLE

This building, at Sixteenth and P Streets NW., is the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction. It is modeled after the tomb of Mausolus, at Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, which was regarded by the ancients as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Its 33 Ionic columns are 33 feet tall, suggesting the 33 degrees of Masonry. On each side of the main entrance is a colossal sphinx, symbolic of Divine Wisdom and Power, executed by A. A. Weinman, sculptor. The building was designed by John Russell Pope, architect.

CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON

At 16th and P Streets NW. is the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The building was designed by Carrére and Hastings, and shows an influence of the French classical style of architecture.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES

Dedicated in 1925, this building, at Connecticut Avenue and H Streets NW., is classical in its style of architecture and is adapted to modern office requirements. It was designed by Cass Gilbert, architect. Fully 13,000 business men representing almost 200 cities of the United States contributed toward the building.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

The National Geographic Society, organized in 1888, “for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge,” is the largest educational and scientific body in the world.

In its 50 years the society has sponsored a series of notable explorations, discoveries, and research activities of our times, and it has developed its unique and beautifully illustrated National Geographic Magazine as a means of disseminating geographic information among its world-wide membership.

The society’s administrative and editorial offices, at Sixteenth and M Streets NW., were enlarged by an addition which extends its handsome and dignified headquarters along a 214-foot frontage. A commodious and modern office building at Third Street and Randolph Place NE., is used for mailing its magazine, maps, and communications to its world-wide membership.

In its editorial, research, technical, photographic, and clerical departments, and in the publishing of the National Geographic Magazine, the society now employs more than 800 persons. It is the largest non-Government user of the National Capital’s post office facilities.

The society’s members, numbering 1,150,000 (December, 1938), represent every community of 100 or more persons in the United States, while its foreign membership of 183,709 includes residents in every country, colony, principality, and mandated area of the world which has any semblance of a postal system.

To each member goes monthly the National Geographic Magazine, which has been called the foremost educational periodical in the world; each member also receives every map and panoramic illustration as issued. Thus the society has distributed among its more than a million member homes some 20,000,000 wall maps, in color, in addition to the numerous sketch maps which accompany articles in the magazine.

The society’s weekly lectures, which are held in Constitution Hall, have become a part of the intellectual life of the National Capital. Since their inception more than 1,400 explorers, statesmen, and world travelers of note have addressed the Washington meetings. Such explorers as Rear Admiral Peary, Sir Francis Younghusband, Capt. Roald Amundsen, Colonel Lindbergh, and Rear Admiral Byrd have related their findings to the society’s members; also such noted travelers as the late Viscount Bryce, former Ambassador Jusserand, the late William Howard Taft, and Colonel Roosevelt, after his return from his African game hunt and his Amazon expedition.

When these lectures are of general interest they are reprinted and illustrated in the magazine for the society’s entire membership.

At its Sixteenth Street headquarters the society maintains a library of up-to-date geographic information, comprising some 20,000 volumes, in addition to maps, periodicals, and reports from foreign governments and geographic societies.

The leading universities of the city, such as Georgetown University, founded 1789; George Washington University, founded 1821; Catholic University, founded 1889; American University, founded 1893; Howard University, founded 1867; Columbia Institution for the Deaf, founded 1857; and Trinity College, Brookland, founded 1897; also have their monumental buildings.

In the Triangle group are to be found: Department of Commerce Building, York & Sawyer, architects; Department of Labor and Interstate Commerce Commission Building, Arthur Brown, architect; Post Office Department Building, Delano & Aldrich, architects; Department of Justice Building, Zantzinger, Borie & Medary, architects; Internal Revenue Building, Louis Simon, architect; National Archives Building, John Russell Pope, architect; Federal Trade Commission (Apex) Building, Bennett, Parsons & Frost, architects.

Other buildings are: The Central Heating Plant (for heating 75 buildings), Paul P. Cret, architect; Bureau of Engraving and Printing, W. B. Olmstead, architect; Smithsonian Institution (begun in 1846), James Renwick, architect; National Museum Building, Hornblower & Marshall, architects; Freer Gallery of Art, Charles A. Platt, architect; Department of Agriculture Building, Rankin, Kellogg & Crane, architects; Department of Agriculture South Building, the Supervising Architect; Naval Observatory; State, War, and Navy Building, A. B. Mullett, supervising architect; Old Pension Office Building (General Accounting Office); Army War College, McKim, Mead & White, architects; Walter Reed Hospital; Naval Hospital; Public Library, Ackerman & Ross, architects; United States Bureau of Standards; National Zoological Park (large new buildings completed in 1937); National Gallery of Art (now under construction), John Russell Pope, architect.

IMPORTANT BRIDGES OF WASHINGTON

Arlington Memorial Bridge, McKim, Mead & White, architects; Calvert Street Bridge, Paul P. Cret, architect; Francis Scott Key Bridge, Nathan Wyeth, architect; Connecticut Avenue (Taft) Bridge, Edward P. Casey, architect, lions by R. Hinton Perry; Q Street Bridge, Glenn Brown and Bedford Brown, architects, A. Phimister Proctor, sculptor; Klingle Ford Bridge, Connecticut Avenue, Paul P. Cret, architect; New Chain Bridge, designed under supervision of Brig. Gen. Dan I. Sultan, former Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia; John Philip Sousa Bridge, Southeast, McKim, Mead & White, architects.

CATHEDRAL OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL

(WASHINGTON CATHEDRAL)

The cathedral is situated on Mount St. Alban, in the northwestern part of the city, on a hill 400 feet in height, said to be the highest point in the District of Columbia, giving a superb view over the National Capital.

The cathedral, also known as the National Cathedral, was designed by George F. Bodley, of London, and Henry Vaughn, of Boston. It is a typical fourteenth century Gothic edifice. The cornerstone was laid in 1907, and since then a large part of the cathedral has been completed. Its ultimate cost, it is estimated, will be $20,000,000. The central nave is about complete, the apse and north transept are finished as are also several of the chapels, such as the Bethlehem Chapel, the Norman Chapel, the Chapel of St. John, and the Chapel of St. Mary. There are costly stones in the building from many parts of the world, including a stone from Bethlehem, which formed the cornerstone.

The building is constructed of limestone. The sculpture and beautifully stained glass windows form the principal decorations.

The total length of the building from the exterior of the apse at the eastern end to the main entrance at the western end will be 534 feet. The total spread of the transepts will be 215 feet, and each of these arms of the cross will be 105 feet wide. The ground area of the cathedral will be 71,000 square feet, and this will be ample to provide standing room for 27,000 persons or seating space for 7,500. The central tower will rise to a height of 262 feet and each of the two western towers will be 195 feet high. The nave will have a span of 40 feet and its height will be 95 feet.

Within the cathedral are buried Woodrow Wilson, our World War President; also Admiral George Dewey, General Nelson A. Miles, and several bishops of the Episcopal Church.

The grounds comprise 67 acres, and the carefully designed Bishop’s Garden forms an interesting feature. The National Cathedral School for Girls and for Boys and the College of Preachers are within the grounds.

NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

This cathedral has been designed in the Roman-Byzantine style of architecture. It is located on Michigan Avenue, Brookland, in the Catholic University grounds. The cornerstone for the church was laid in 1920. It is estimated that the total cost will be $50,000,000. The architects are Maginnis & Walsh, of Boston, and Professor Frederick V. Murphy, architect, of Washington.

The building as designed is cruciform in plan, with a triple apse, at the focus of which is placed the central altar within a great baldachin. The apse is of vast scale and, with the presbytery that separates it from the transepts, will admit of important ceremonies. The dome will be 250 feet high; the tall campanile, or bell tower, 330 feet high. The building is to take its place with such notable memorials as Santa Maria Maggiore, of Rome, and Santa Maria del Fiore, of Florence. It is to stand as a symbol of American Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary. The availability of the Byzantine tradition for the rendering of this idea was readily perceived. The crypt, capable of seating approximately 1,500 persons, has been completed. Here a most interesting decorative scheme in terms of faïence has been introduced to enrich the effect of the vaults. The central altar is of Algerian onyx. The pavement is of Italian marble. The crypt is richly treated with still other marbles and with mosaics.

NATIONAL CHURCHES IN WASHINGTON

There is no city in the country that has so many representative churches as the city of Washington, which is undoubtedly due to the fact that this is the National Capital. The leading denominations of the country, recognizing the importance of religion in the life of the Nation, have erected or are raising funds for the erection of great edifices, including memorial churches, fittingly to represent them at the seat of government.

In chapter XX attention has already been directed to the earliest churches in Washington.

EMBASSIES AND LEGATIONS

Among the notable buildings in the National Capital that have had a distinguished place since the early days of the Republic are the residences, embassies, and legations of the representatives from foreign countries. At the present time there are 53, representing the leading countries of the world.

The legation and embassy buildings are held territory of the respective countries to which they belong, and fly the flag of their respective nations, excepting on state occasions, when they fly both their own flag and that of the United States.

L’Enfant, in his plan of the city, contemplated diplomatic buildings to line the Mall. But as the Mall was delayed in its development for over a century, the museum type of building has been erected on the Mall and the diplomatic establishments located elsewhere. In later years the suggestion was offered to locate them in the vicinity of the State Department.

At the present time the embassies and legations are located, for the most part, in the residential section of northwest Washington. Quite a number are on Sixteenth Street in the vicinity of Meridian Hill Park. In more recent years several of the leading countries have built new embassies on spacious grounds. In this Great Britain has taken the lead, having built a large embassy on 4 acres of ground at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, near the Naval Observatory. Three blocks beyond, the Norwegian Legation building has recently been completed. In recent years the Imperial Japanese Government built a new embassy at 2514 Massachusetts Avenue. The French Government recently purchased the home of John Hays Hammond for its new embassy.

A list of the countries having embassies and legations in Washington (with the exception of Estonia, whose representative is located in New York City) is as follows:

Albania: The Mayflower Hotel.

Argentina: 1806 Corcoran Street.

Belgium: 1777 Massachusetts Avenue.

Bolivia: Fifteenth and K Streets.

Brazil: 3007 Whitehaven Street.

Bulgaria: 2881 Woodland Drive.

Canada: 1746 Massachusetts Avenue.

Chile: 2154 Florida Avenue.

China: 2001 Nineteenth Street.

Colombia: 1520 Twentieth Street.

Costa Rica: 2128 Bancroft Place.

Cuba: 2630 Sixteenth Street.

Czechoslovakia: 2349 Massachusetts Avenue.

Denmark: 1868 Columbia Road.

Dominican Republic: 2633 Sixteenth Street.

Ecuador: Barr Building.

Egypt: 2301 Massachusetts Avenue.

El Salvador: 2400 Sixteenth Street.

Estonia: Rockefeller Plaza, New York City.

Finland: 2416 Tracy Place.

France, Chancery: 1601 V Street.

Germany: 1439 Massachusetts Avenue.

Great Britain: 3100 Massachusetts Avenue.

Greece: 2221 Massachusetts Avenue.

Guatemala: 1614 Eighteenth Street.

Haiti: 5017 Sixteenth Street.

Honduras: 2611 Woodley Place.

Hungary: 1424 Sixteenth Street.

Ireland: 2310 Tracy Place.

Italy: 2700 Sixteenth Street.

Japan: 2514 Massachusetts Avenue.

Latvia: 1715 Twenty-second Street.

Lithuania: 2622 Sixteenth Street.

Mexico: 2829 Sixteenth Street.

Netherlands: 1470 Euclid Street.

Nicaragua: 1521 New Hampshire Avenue.

Norway: 3401 Massachusetts Avenue.

Panama: 1536 Eighteenth Street.

Paraguay: Wardman Park Hotel.

Peru: 1300 Sixteenth Street.

Poland: 2640 Sixteenth Street.

Portugal: Wardman Park Hotel.

Rumania: 1601 Twenty-third Street.

Siam: 2300 Kalorama Road.

Spain: 2801 Sixteenth Street.

Sweden: 2247 R Street.

Switzerland: 2419 Massachusetts Avenue.

Turkey: 1606 Twenty-third Street.

Union of South Africa: 3101 Massachusetts Avenue.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: 1125 Sixteenth Street.

Uruguay: 1010 Vermont Avenue.

Venezuela: 2400 Sixteenth Street.

Yugoslavia: 1520 Sixteenth Street.