DC -- Pennsylvania Avenue area:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- PENN_970202_01.JPG: Pennsylvania Avenue; dawn; Old Post Office Tower, Capitol
PENNAVE2.GIF Pennsylvania Avenue; dawn; Old Post Office Tower, Capitol
This is the view I see most mornings on my way to work. Well, except for the mornings I screw up and sleep in...
- PENN_970202_02.JPG: Pennsylvania Avenue; sunrise
Sunrise view. Old Post Office tower is on the right. Capitol dome is down at the bottom.
- PENN_970413_01.JPG: Federal Triangle
The red-roofed buildings to the right of the gallery is Federal Triangle. Originally swampland and then a thriving shopping district, the area had deteriorated during the Civil War. Called "Murder Bay" before the war, it became labeled "Hooker's Division" during the war. (General Joseph Hooker was a Union commander whose name is popularly attributed to being the source for the prostitution nickname "hookers"). The city had become an armed camp and dangerous characters preyed on the overcrowded citizens in this area, being jammed with saloons, gambling dens, and houses of prostitution. To control crime, gambling salons and prostitution houses were forced to concentrate in the area now known as Federal Triangle.
In 1899, the Old Post Office (not called "Old" at the time of course) opened here. The MacMillan Plan recommended in 1902 that the area be turned into a municipal office park but the only new building constructed here in the next two decades was the District Building (1908). The place continued to deteriorate until the federal government bought it out in 1926. Construction commenced at the beginning of the Depression and it became a collection of federal office buildings.
Federal Triangle consists of several buildings on a stretch of land 12 blocks across, bordered like a triangle between Pennsylvania Avenue to the north, 15th Street to the west, and Constitution Avenue to the south. Most of them share a common architecture and are covered by red tile roofs. These buildings are:
15th Street Dept of Commerce 14th Street Interstate Ronald District Commerce Reagan Building (1908) Commission International Trade Center
--------- Customs Service Building --- 12th Street Internal Old Post Revenue Office (1899) Building 10th Street Justice Department 9th Street National Archives 7th Street Federal Trade Commission 6th Street
The Ronald Reagan International Trade Center is still being built, having been designed by I.M. Pei.
The building in front in this picture is the Federal Trade Commission. The National Archives is the building to the right of it. Behind it is the Justice Department, followed by the Old Post Office.
- Wikipedia Description: Pennsylvania Avenue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. joining the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street," it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches and civilian protests. Moreover, Pennsylvania Avenue is an important commuter route and is part of the National Highway System.
Route:
The street runs for seven miles inside Washington, but the stretch from the White House to the United States Capitol building is considered the most important—effectively the heart of the city. It continues on the other side of the Capitol for many miles, through the Capitol Hill neighborhood, over the Anacostia River on the John Philip Sousa Bridge, and well into Prince George's County, Maryland, where, in addition to its street name, it is designated Maryland Route 4. In the other direction, the street continues northwest past the White House, ending at M Street in Georgetown.
History:
Laid out by Pierre L'Enfant, Pennsylvania Avenue was one of the earliest streets constructed in the federal city. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson considered the Avenue an important feature of the new Capital. After inspecting L'Enfant's plan, President Washington referred to the thoroughfare as a "Grand Avenue." Jefferson concurred, and while the "grand avenue" was little more than a wide dirt road, he planted it with rows of fast growing Lombardy poplars. The symbolically important street was named for Pennsylvania as consolation for moving the capital from Philadelphia. From 1862 to 1962, streetcars ran the length of the avenue from Georgetown to the Anacostia River.
Although Pennsylvania Avenue extends seven miles, the expanse between the White House and the Capitol constitutes the ceremonial heart of the nation. Washington called this stretch "most magnificent & most convenient" and it has served the country well. At one time, Pennsylvania Avenue provided an unobstructed view between the White House and the Capitol. The construction of an expansion to the Treasury Building blocked this view and supposedly President Andrew Jackson did this on purpose. Relations between the president and Congress were strained and Jackson did not want to see the Capitol out his window, though in reality the Treasury Building was simply built on what was cheap government land.
Ever since an impromptu procession formed around Jefferson's second inauguration, every United States president except Ronald Reagan has paraded down the Avenue after taking the oath of office (Reagan paraded down the avenue for his first inauguration, in 1981, but not for the second in 1985 because of freezing temperatures which high winds made dangerous). From William Henry Harrison to Gerald Ford the funeral corteges of seven of the eight presidents who died in office and two former presidents followed this route. Franklin Roosevelt was the only president who died in office whose cortege didn't follow this route. Lyndon B. Johnson and Ford were the former presidents whose funeral cortege followed this route. For LBJ, it was along the route from the Capitol to the National City Christian Church, where he worshipped often, because the funeral was held there. Ford's went down Pennsylvania Ave., because it paused at the White House en route to the Washington National Cathedral, where the funeral was held. Abraham Lincoln's funeral cortege solemnly proceeded down Pennsylvania Avenue in 1865; only weeks later the end of the American Civil War had been celebrated when the Army of the Potomac paraded more joyously down the street.
Not just the scene of official functions, Pennsylvania Avenue is the traditional parade and protest route of ordinary citizens. During the depression of the 1890s, for example, Jacob Coxey marched 500 supporters down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to demand Federal aid for the unemployed. Similarly, on the eve of Woodrow Wilson's 1913 inauguration, Alice Paul masterminded a parade highlighting the women's suffrage movement. In July 1932, a contingent of the Bonus Expeditionary Force carried flags down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House where they planned to form picket lines. Pennsylvania Avenue also has served as a background for more light-hearted celebrations, including a series of day and nighttime Shriner's parades in the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1965, portions of the street and surrounding area were designated the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site. The National Park Service administers this area which includes the United States Navy Memorial, Old Post Office Tower, and Pershing Park.
Security measures:
After the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the Secret Service closed the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to vehicular traffic. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic, however, was still permitted. After the September 11, 2001 attacks this policy was made permanent. Near the White House, traffic is redirected to H Street or Constitution Avenue both of which eventually link back with Pennsylvania Avenue. Plans drafted by District officials after the September 11th attacks call for Pennsylvania Avenue downtown being used as a dividing line for any mass evacuation of the city. People north of the avenue would be directed north while those south of the avenue would be directed south. No vehicles would be allowed to cross the avenue.
In 2002, the National Capital Planning Commission invited several prominent landscape architects to submit proposals for the redesign of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House, with the intention that the security measures would be woven into an overall plan for the precinct and a more welcoming public space might be created. The winning entry by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Landscape Architects proposed a very simple approach to planting, paving, and the integration of security measures. Construction was completed in 2004.
Sites of interest:
From east to west:
* Peace Monument
* National Gallery of Art, East Building
* John Marshall Park
* Canadian Embassy
* Newseum (under construction as of 2006)
* Federal Trade Commission
* National Archives Building (main facility of the National Archives and Records Administration)
* United States Navy Memorial
* J. Edgar Hoover Building (Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters)
* Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building (Department of Justice headquarters)
* Old Post Office Pavilion
* Ronald Reagan Building
* John A. Wilson Building
* Freedom Plaza
* Pershing Park
* Main Treasury Building (Department of the Treasury headquarters)
* White House
* Blair House
* Renwick Gallery
* The George Washington University
* Washington Circle
* Georgetown
The National Theatre and Warner Theatre use Pennsylvania Avenue mailing addresses, although the theaters are nearby on E Street and 13th Street respectively.
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