Federal Triangle is a triangular area in Washington, D.C., formed by 15th Street NW, Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and E Street NW. Federal Triangle is occupied by ten large city and federal office buildings, all of which are part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site.Lee, Antionette Josephine. Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2000, p. 241.
Seven of the buildings in Federal Triangle were built by the U.S. federal government in the early and mid-1930s as part of a coordinated construction plan that has been called "one of the greatest building projects ever undertaken".Lee, Antionette Josephine. Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2000, p. 241. Two buildings predating this coordinated effort were incorporated into Federal Triangle. One building was built in the 1990s.
Federal Triangle station is the Washington Metro station serving Federal Triangle and its immediately surrounding areas.
Name The name "Federal Triangle" appears to have been a journalistic invention. The press wrote of a "Pennsylvania Avenue Triangle" as early as November 18, 1926, and use of this name continued as late as June 1929."The Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon." New York Times. May 26, 1929."Revenue Building Cornerstone Laid By Mellon In Rain." Washington Post. May 21, 1929. By 1927, it was more common for the news media to refer to the area as "the Triangle". This name was in use by 1928, even by government officials,Speers, L.C. "Washington's Aspect Is Undergoing Change." New York Times. March 18, 1928. and still used as of late 1934.McCormick, Anne O'Hare. "Building the Greater Capital." New York Times. May 26, 1929.Adams, Mildred. "Washington Triangle Grows." New York Times. October 7, 1934.
In 1935, the Associated Press first used the term "Federal Triangle", with both words capitalized."Capitol Triangle at Last Completed." Associated Press. August 4, 1935. The New York Times first used the term in 1936, although the paper's capitalization of both words did not become standardized until 1939.For examples, see: George, Frank. "Eat More Fish, Uncle Sam Urges." New York Times. November 1, 1936; "Farm Building Is Biggest." New York Times. August 1, 1937; "Building Progress Is Wide In Capital." New York Times. May 7, 1939; Modlens, Joseph. "Washington Offers Many Opportunities For Camera Studies of Architecture." New York Times. December 24, 1939; Fredericksen, Paul. "The New Washington." New York Times. July 28, 1940; Reston, James B. "L'Enfant's Capital." New York Times. June 1, 1941. Definitions of the area varied at first. Early news reports believed the eastern apex of Federal Triangle extended as far east and south as the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in front of the United States Capitol. But almost all reports referred to Pennsylvania Avenue NW and 15th Street NW as the Triangle's northern and western boundaries.
Genesis and design Plan
The Senate Park Commission, also known as the McMillan Commission, was formed by the United States Congress in 1900 to reconcile competing visions for the development of Washington, D.C., and especially the National Mall and nearby areas.Peterson, Jon A. The Birth of City Planning in the United States, 1840–1917. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. The commission's plan for development, the McMillan Plan, proposed to replace the residences and other buildings on Lafayette Square with tall, Neoclassical office buildings with facades of white marble for executive branch offices.Luria, Sarah. Capital Speculations: Writing and Building Washington. Durham, N.H.: University of New Hampshire Press, 2006. Demolition proceeded on some nearby buildings: notably, the Hay-Adams Houses, Corcoran House, and a portion of the Decatur House grounds.Goode, James W. Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2003. . But the rapid expansion in the size and number of executive-branch agencies in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s made the McMillan Plan's development of Lafayette Square impractical,Bednar, Michael J. L'Enfant's Legacy: Public Open Spaces in Washington. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. and Congressional and local support for the project waned.
Over the next few years, the president and Congress established several agencies to supervise the approval, design, and construction of new buildings in the District of Columbia: The Commission of Fine Arts in 1910 to approve designs, the Public Buildings Commission in 1916 to make recommendations about the housing of federal agencies and offices, and the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission in 1924 to oversee planning.Cannadine, David. Mellon: An American Life. Reprint ed. New York: Random House, Inc., 2008. In the mid-1910s, Congress appropriated and the government spent $7 million to acquire land on Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 14th and 15th Streets NW and several blocks south.
No demolition or construction took place during that period, and the government merely collected rent from the tenants in the area. In 1924, the Public Buildings Commission recommended that a new series of federal office buildings be built near the White House.Gutheim, Frederick Albert and Lee, Antoinette Josephine. Worthy of the Nation: Washington, DC, From L'Enfant to the National Capital Planning Commission. 2d ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. The plan called for a complex of buildings to be built at Murder Bay, a muddy, flood-prone, malaria-ridden, poverty-stricken region lacking in paved roads, sewer system, and running water and almost exclusively home to numerous brothels and an extensive criminal underclass.Evelyn, Douglas E.; Dickson, Paul; Ackerman, S.J. On This Spot: Pinpointing the Past in Washington, D.C. 3d rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: Capital Books, 2008. Lewis, Nancy. "If Only the Soil Could Talk: Dig May Reveal Way of Life in Murder Bay." Washington Post. September 20, 1988.
1926
Federal Triangle, as the area would be renamed, had its genesis in 1926. An attempt to provide $50 million to fund, among other things, a national archives building and develop federal offices along Pennsylvania Avenue NW was proposed in 1925."New Grandeur to Come to Washington." New York Times. February 8, 1925. The effort saw success in 1926 with the passage by the United States Congress of the Public Buildings Act, which authorizedAuthorization legislation establishes a program that will later spend the money, but may not provide any funding. An appropriation is needed to actually fund the program. See: Rieselbach, Leroy N. Congressional Politics: The Evolving Legislative System. 2d ed. New York: Westview Press, 1995. the construction not only of the Federal Triangle complex of buildings but also a new U.S. Supreme Court building opposite the United States Capitol, a major extension of the U.S. Government Printing Office building on North Capitol Street, and significant widening of B Street NW on the north side of the National Mall, eventually renamed Constitution Avenue.Goode, James. "Introduction: The Creation of Monumental Washington in the 1930s." In Wentzel, Volkmar Kurt and Goode, James. Washington by Night: Vintage Photographs From the 30s. Reprint ed. James Goode, ed. Golden, Colo.: Fulcrum Publishing, 1998. $165,000,000 Public Building Measure Signed By Coolidge." Washington Post. May 26, 1926.
Appropriations were to be made annually, leaving control of the project firmly in Congressional hands. Congress appropriated $50 million, including $10 million annually for five years, for construction of these projects in 1927, with half the funds to be spent solely on Federal Triangle.Whitaker, Charles B. "Building for the Glory of Washington." New York Times. March 6, 1927."Wide Federal Plan for Buildings Told." New York Times. June 6, 1926."Developing the Federal City." New York Times. November 19, 1926. A second appropriation bill provided $25 million for buying up all additional privately held land in Federal Triangle."Mellon Tells Aim in Capital Plans." New York Times. October 19, 1928. On June 5, 1926, the Treasury Department, which had been given authority over the implementation of the building program, announced the Federal Triangle projects (among others) which would move forward and their anticipated cost:"Plan 4 Federal Buildings." New York Times. July 8, 1926."$33,725,000 in New Federal Buildings Provided For City." Washington Post. June 6, 1926. A National Archives building, with total cost of land and construction to be $6.9 million, including $1 million appropriated in fiscal 1927.Just days earlier, the Commission of Fine Arts and Public Building Commission pegged the cost of the proposed Archives building at $2 million. See: "Archives Building to Cost $2,000,000 Decide Upon Here." Washington Post. May 29, 1926. A new Internal Revenue Bureau building, with total cost of land and construction to be $7.95 million, including $1.7 million appropriated in fiscal 1927. A new Department of Commerce building, with total cost of construction to be $10 million, including $600,000 appropriated in fiscal 1927. Treasury officials said the Archives building was their top priority, followed by the Internal Revenue building, two Department of Agriculture projects, and the Commerce building last. At that time, no provision was made to construct a new building for the Department of Justice and no sites were named for construction of the three announced buildings. Preliminary plans for the Commerce building were presented to the Commission on Fine Arts and Public Building Commission in mid-June."Commerce Building Plans Are Outlined to Fine Arts Body." Washington Post. June 18, 1926. On July 7, the Treasury Department and Commission of Fine Arts announced sites and sizes for the three previously announced structures. The Department of Commerce building would contain 1 million square feet (93,000 square metres) of office space and be sited on the south side of B Street NW (now Constitution Avenue NW) on the National Mall."4 Sites Selected for U.S. Buildings in Local Program." Washington Post. July 8, 1926.
The Internal Revenue building would contain 650,000 square feet (60,450 square metres) of office space and take up two whole city blocks between 10th and 12th Streets NW and B and C Streets NW (cutting off 11th Street NW). The National Archives would contain 2.3 million square feet (213,900 square metres) of office space, and take up one city block between 12th and 13th Streets NW and B and C Streets NW (cutting off the last block of Ohio Avenue NW).Treasury officials had tentatively announced this site for the Archives building on June 1, 1926. The July 7 announcement appears to have made this selection final. See: "Prospective Archives Location Is Reported." Washington Post. June 2, 1926. The government owned three of the four plots needed for the Internal Revenue site, but none of the land beneath the proposed Archives building.
Purchasing both sites, officials estimated, would cost $700,000 each. Treasury officials also proposed at this time adding a Justice building on Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets NW, and a Labor building (facing 15th Street) between 14th and 15th Streets NW and D Street NW and Ohio Avenue NW. Preliminary plans for these buildings were expected to be presented in three months.