BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Federal Triangle -- Dept of Commerce Building (Herbert C. Hoover Bldg) -- Exhibit: Sculpture of Federal Triangle

DC -- Federal Triangle -- Dept of Commerce Building (Herbert C. Hoover Bldg) -- Exhibit: Sculpture of Federal Triangle:

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Description of Pictures: Sculpture of Federal Triangle display. It's been there for years but I never photographed it.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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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:
1. DOCSFT_150205_002.JPG: Department of the Post Office Building: Interior sculpture 1935-1937 During the final phase of the development of the Federal Triangle prior to World War II, the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department directed three projects involving architectural sculpture. Placed under the Public Works Branch of the Procurement Division, the Section of Painting and Sculpture was created by executive order on October 16, 1934. Whenever funds and space were available, the Section was to be in charge of embellishing all federal buildings constructed under the authority of the Treasury. The embellishments of the Postmaster General's reception rooms was the first sculptural project carried out by the Section for a federal building in Washington. Fifteen sculptors were selected to execute works costing a total of $54,800 (in 1986 dollars, $432,194). Paul Manship and William Zorach were given commissions for marble statues of Samuel Osgood, the first Postmaster General of the United States and Benjamin Franklin, statesman, respectively. Gleb Derujinsky was commissioned to executive eight portrait medallions in wood for the reception room. Twelve sculptors were selected through competitions to create the niche figures.
2. DOCSFT_150205_009.JPG: Department of the Post Office Building
3. DOCSFT_150205_013.JPG: Department of the Post Office Building "The Bond of Postal Union" is symbolized by a hemisphere encircled by a broad band supported by two youths, one of whom passes the torch of enlightenment to the other. At either end are half-figure torsos: One of a trion with sporting dolphins, the other of an aviator with an eagle. This limestone pediment on Pennsylvania Avenue is 43 feet wide and 9 feet high. It was carved by the John Donnelly Company in 1933-1934. Adolph Weinman's preliminary clay sketch model for the pediment, "The Bond of Postal Union," is shown within a plaster architectural model. The Department of the Post Office Building is viewed from across Twelfth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in the autumn of 1933. Construction of the scaffolding and housing for carving "The Bond of Postal Union" appears in the foreground. Harry Ellis, one of the carvers for the John Donnelly Company, is seen finishing with hammer and chisel, some details on "The Bond of Postal Union." The raised pointed marks on a center section of the half-scale plaster model have corresponding points on the stone. These are removed in the final stages of carving.
4. DOCSFT_150205_022.JPG: The Department of the Post Office Building is viewed from across Twelfth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in the autumn of 1933. Construction of the scaffolding and housing for carving "The Bond of Postal Union" appears in the foreground.
5. DOCSFT_150205_025.JPG: Harry Ellis, one of the carvers for the John Donnelly Company, is seen finishing with hammer and chisel, some details on "The Bond of Postal Union." The raised pointed marks on a center section of the half-scale plaster model have corresponding points on the stone. These are removed in the final stages of carving.
6. DOCSFT_150205_034.JPG: Department of Commerce Building: Constructed: 1927-1932 Architects: York and Sawyer of New York City James Earle Fraser was selected by the architect Louis Ayres to design four sculptural pediments. The modeling of the intermediate- and final-scale models for the pediments was subcontracted by Fraser to Joseph Kiselewski, Haig Patigian, Ulysses A. Ricci and Frederick G.R. Roth. The models of 250 decorative ornaments on the exterior and interior were produced for $54,150 (in 1986 dollars, $354,466) by the Ricci and Zari firm of New York City. The Edward Ardolino, John Donnelly, and Gino A. Ratti firms carved the exterior limestone decorative sculpture. The models for the four pediments were executed between 1930-31; the carving was delayed until 1934. The total cost was approximately $115,200 (in 1986 dollars, $837,888).
7. DOCSFT_150205_037.JPG: Bureau of Internal Revenue Service Building Constructed: 1927-1930; Extension 1933-1935 Architect: Louis A. Simon, Office of the Supervising Architect, Department of the Treasury This edifice was the first to be completed and is the least ornate of all the Triangle buildings. The Board of Architectural Consultants to the Treasury Department considered that figurative architectural sculpture would be inappropriate for a Triangle structure that would house only a bureau of a government department. The models for forty decorative ornaments on the exterior and interior were executed by the firm of Ricci and Zari; New York City.
8. DOCSFT_150205_053.JPG: Sculpture and the Federal Triangle: With fifteen sculptural pediments and other major decorations, the buildings in the "Federal Triangle" are unique -- they represent the largest concentrated permanent "collection" of 1930's architectural sculpture in America. As Secretary of the Treasury in 1927, Andrew Mellon appointed a Board of Architectural Consultants to create a master design for a group of buildings to be constructed in the triangular area bounded by Fifteenth Street, Constitution Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. The seven Beaux-Arts-conceived buildings designed by the consulting architects were constructed between 1927 and 1938. From inception, sculptural decoration was an important and integral part of the designs. With the assistance of a supporting industry of specialized craftsmen, forty-two sculptors were employed to produce an estimated total of 112 major and minor decorations. Most of the sculptural commissions were awarded directly by the consulting architects to establish Beau-Arts-trained sculptors. In 1934, however, the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department was established and took control of all new sculptural projects. The Section adopted a competitive system of awarding contracts. A total of approximately $1,093,000 (in 1886 dollars, $8,723,339) was paid to the sculptors commissioned to produce and execute the sculptural decorations. This exhibit presents different stages of the process through which the sculptural decorations evolved to its completed form for the seven buildings.
9. DOCSFT_150205_070.JPG: Six of the seven members of the Board of Architectural Consultants to the Treasury Department are seated in front of the original master plan for the Federal Triangle (upper left corner) during a meeting circa 1929. Left to right are: * Clarence C. Zantzinger of Zantzinger, Borie and Medary, architects of the Justice Department Buildings; * Louis Ayres of York and Sawyer, architects of the Commerce Department Building; * Louis A. Simon of the Treasury Department, architect of the Bureau of Internal Revenue Building; * Edward H. Bennett, Chairman of the Board and a partner in Bennett Parsons and Frost, architects of the Federal Trade Commission Building; * Arthur Brown, Jr., architect of the complex including the Interstate Commerce Commission, Departmental Auditorium and Labor Department (now US Customs Service) Buildings; and * William A. Delano of Delano and Aldrich, architects of the Post Office Department Building. Missing from the photograph is John Russell Pope, who designed the National Archives Building.
10. DOCSFT_150205_072.JPG: Andrew Mellon stands before the great model of the proposed buildings for the Federal Triangle, exhibited in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1929. At Mellon's request, the model was made from the designs of the Board of Architectural Consultants to encourage congressional and public support for the massive building program. Mellon had informed the Board at the beginning that the Federal Triangle buildings offered "an occasion for the creation of a great work of art."
11. DOCSFT_150205_081.JPG: This aerial view, circa 1925, looks west down the vertical line of Constitution Avenue (then "B" Street) and the diagonal of Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Ellipse in front of the White House. The National Museum Building (now the Museum of Natural History) on the left stands directly across from the row of sheds of the Center Market and the Old Post Office Building, with its tower to the right. The photograph reveals the chaotic appearance of the commercial buildings between the two major avenues before the construction of the monumental edifices that filled the triangular area known as the "Federal Triangle."
12. DOCSFT_150205_093.JPG: Sculpture and the Federal Triangle
13. DOCSFT_150205_104.JPG: Sunday Star December 17, 1939
14. DOCSFT_150205_105.JPG: The Great Plaza (uncompleted) In the early master designs for the entire Triangle area, the Board of Architectural Consultants planned a beautiful landscaped park for the enjoyment of government employees in the surrounding buildings between Twelfth and Fourtheenth [sic] Streets, NW. French precedents, particularly the Louvre in Paris, inspired this concept. Many factors conspired to prevent the construction of the Great Plaza. The buildings themselves assumed financial priority. The automobile became a permanent "resident," resisting eviction. Today the area is the largest single blight in the realization of the original grand scheme of the Federal Triangle.
15. DOCSFT_150205_112.JPG: The "Great Plaza" in 1979
16. DOCSFT_150205_120.JPG: An early design for developing the Great Plaza is seen in this 1929 architectural scale model of the proposed Federal Triangle buildings. The semi-circular eastern end of the Plaza reveals a more simplified design than that presented in the 1927 drawings of Arthur Brown, architect of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Departmental Auditorium, Department of Labor (now US Customs Service) Buildings.
17. DOCSFT_150205_123.JPG: Bureau of Internal Revenue Service Building
18. DOCSFT_150205_131.JPG: Bureau of Internal Revenue Service Building: Proposed completion of northwest corner of The Bureau of Internal Revenue Building.
19. DOCSFT_150205_133.JPG: Department of Commerce Building
20. DOCSFT_150205_141.JPG: James Earle Fraser's preliminary (1/2":1') sketch model in clay for the Fisheries pediment appears within its plaster architectural model.
21. DOCSFT_150205_147.JPG: The pediment Mining represented a bureau which was originally created a part of the Department of the Interior but was briefly under the Department of Commerce from 1925 to 1934. The carving of the pediment was carried out by the Gino A. Ratti Company.
22. DOCSFT_150205_151.JPG: The pediment Foreign and Domestic Commerce was carved by the John Donnelly Company.
23. DOCSFT_150205_158.JPG: The pediment Aeronautics symbolizes the newest bureau, established in 1927, under the Department of Commerce. Among the carvers of the John Donnelly Company who worked on the pediment were Joseph Servos and Laurence Pefferly.
24. DOCSFT_150205_160.JPG: Department of Commerce Building: One of three pairs of identical bronze doors for the building on Fourteenth Street. Based on the designs of the architects York and Sawyer, the models were executed by the firm of Ricci and Zari and the doors were cast by the General Bronze Corporation.
25. DOCSFT_150205_166.JPG: Department of the Post Office Building: Constructed: 1931-1934 Architects: Delano and Aldrich of New York City Completed in less than three years, the Department of the Post Office Building (Ariel Rios Federal Building) was the first of the four structures to be completed during the second phase of the Federal Triangle development. Adolph A. Weinman was selected by the architects to design the major architectural sculptures. Weinman himself produced the models for the Twelfth Street pediment. Subcontracts to model other works were given by him to Anthony de Francisci, Walker K. Hancock, Joseph E. Renier, Frederick GR Roth, George Snowden, and Sidney B. Waugh. About 232 models for exterior and interior decorative ornaments were produced by the Ricci Studios of New York City. The Edward Ardolino and John Donnelly companies carved the limestone sculptural decorations. The sculptures were produced and executed between 1932 and 1934 at a cost of $180,950 (in 1986 dollars, $1,476,931).
26. DOCSFT_150205_173.JPG: The Department of the Post Office Building (now the Federal Building), east facade on Twelfth Street, NW. The concave limestone pediment represented The Spirit of Progress was designed and modeled by Adolph A. Weinman and is 67 feet wide and 12 feet high. The John Donnelly Company completed the carving in June 1934.
27. DOCSFT_150205_176.JPG: Keystone over central arch on Thirteenth Street semicircular facade, Department of the Post Office Building. Probably carved by the Edward Ardolino Company in 1933. This sequence of metopes, Primitive Means of Communication, is repeated around the frieze of the semicircular facade of the Post Office Department Building on the Thirteenth Street side. The metopes were carved by the Edward Ardolino Company in autumn, 1933.
28. DOCSFT_150205_182.JPG: The north anteroom of the Postmaster General's reception room on the third floor has walnut paneling. Seen in the niches (from right to left) are Chaim Gross's Alaskan Snowshoe Mail Carrier, Louis Slobodkin's Hawaiian Postman, and Oronzio Malderelli's Airman Pilot. Paul Manship's marble statue of Samuel Osgood originally stood in front of the large window.
29. DOCSFT_150205_186.JPG: In 1938, under William Zorach's supervision, the marble statue of Benjamin Franklin was carved by Edmondo Quattrocchi from the sculptor's full-scale plaster model.
30. DOCSFT_150205_191.JPG: The Bond of the Postal Union, modeled by Walter K. Hancock after designs by Adolph A. Weinman, 1932-34. Limestone pediment, 9' x 43'. Location: Department of the Post Office Building, Pennsylvania Avenue facade.
31. DOCSFT_150205_194.JPG: Department of the Post Office Building
32. DOCSFT_150205_197.JPG: Department of the Post Office Building: William Zorach posed in his studio with a half-scale plaster cast of his model of Benjamin Franklin. He is seen working with a rasp to refine the surfaces of the plaster. To the left is a plaster reproduction of Jean-Antoine Houdon's 1778 life-portrait bust of Franklin upon which Zorach based the likeness in his statue; this was a common practice among sculptors for historical portraits.
33. DOCSFT_150205_200.JPG: Department of Justice Building
34. DOCSFT_150205_212.JPG: Between January and August 1933, Paul Jennewein's model for the relief over the main entrance, Constitution Avenue, went through eight refinements, of which numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 are seen in the photograph above. in the models the sculptor worked out problems of subject matter, composition and individual details. In the final version, Jennewein was forced to add fig leaves for the male figures at the insistence of the Commission of Fine Arts. The inscription "Lege Atque Ordine Omnia Fiunt," from Pliny the Younger's Epistles, means "By law and order all is accomplished." The figures represent (left to right) Law, Prosperity, Opportunity, Peace, and Order.
35. DOCSFT_150205_216.JPG: Constitution Avenue entrance with the night doors closed. Paul Jennewein made the models for the aluminum doors, cast by the General Bronze Corporation and for the aluminum urns, produced by Edward F. Caldwell and Company. Roger Morigi and Bruno Mankowski were among the carvers for the John Donnelly Company, which executed Paul Jennewein's overdoor relief in limestone in 1934-35.
36. DOCSFT_150205_221.JPG: Standing on the cornice of the Constitution Avenue entrance in 1933, workmen lowered a full-scale photograph of the model by Paul Jennewein for the relief intended for that location. By this method the sculptor could accurately judge if the figures were in proper scale with the architectural context.
37. DOCSFT_150205_223.JPG: Department of Justice Building
38. DOCSFT_150205_229.JPG: Department of Justice Building: Water (left) and Fire (right) by C. Paul Jennewein, 1933-34, limestone. Fifth-floor elevator and stairway lobby.
39. DOCSFT_150205_236.JPG: The National Archives Building
40. DOCSFT_150205_239.JPG: The preliminary clay sketches for the door jambs of the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to the Archives are shown in a small scale plaster model above. Below is the actual installation of the granite relief panels in their originally proposed locations.
41. DOCSFT_150205_243.JPG: Robert I. Aitken's full-scale clay model for the granite relief on the left side of the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance depicts a Roman legionary soldier guarding the portal and a burning flame, suggesting the heritage of the nation. The date, in Roman numerals, refers to the founding of the republic in 1776. The scroll in the left hand may symbolize the Declaration of Independence, housed in the Archives Building.
42. DOCSFT_150205_246.JPG: Robert I. Aitken's full-scale clay model for the granite relief on the right side of the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance depicts a soldier wearing a wolf's skin -- associated with Roman standard-bearers -- guarding the entrance to the documentary heritage of the nation. The Roman numerals refer to the date of the opening of the Archives in 1935.
43. DOCSFT_150205_249.JPG: National Archives Building, north facade. Pediment: Destiny, modeled by Adolph A. Weinman and carved by the Edward Ardolino Co. Attic Frieze medallions: The House of Representatives and The Senate; modeled by Robert I. Aitken and carved by the Easton Studios. Bottom left pedestal sculpture: Future; door jamb reliefs: Guardians of the Portal; bottom right pedestal sculpture: Past; all modeled by Robert I. Aitken and carved by Piccirilli Brothers.
44. DOCSFT_150205_259.JPG: The National Archives Building: The Department of the Post Office, by Robert I. Aitken, 1933-34, limestone medallion, 8'0" diameter, attic frieze on Pennsylvania Avenue facade.
45. DOCSFT_150205_267.JPG: The National Archives Building: The Senate by Robert I. Aitken, 1933-34, limestone medallion, 8'0" diameter, attic frieze on the Pennsylvania Avenue facade.
46. DOCSFT_150205_273.JPG: The National Archives Building: The Department of Labor, by Robert I. Aitken, 1933-34, limestone medallion, 8'0" diameter, east corner of attic frieze on the Pennsylvania Avenue facade.
47. DOCSFT_150205_280.JPG: The National Archives Building: Constructed: 1931-1935, extension 1935-1937 Architect: John Russell Pope of New York City Robert I. Aitken, James Earle Frazer, and Adolph A. Weinman, who were selected by the Architect received the commissions for the architectural sculpture. Other sculptors who participated in making models designed by Fraser included Laura Gardin Fraser, Bruce Moore, David K. Rubins, Ulysses A. Ricci, and Sidney B. Waugh. The models for some 120 exterior and interior decorative ornaments were produced by the Ricci Studios of New York. Five companies carved different portions of the exterior limestone and granite embellishments: Edward Ardolino, John Donnelly, the Easton Studios, the Piccirilli Brothers and Gino A. Ratti. The sculptures were produced and executed between 1933 and 1935 at a cost of approximately $300,000 (in 1986 dollars, $2,454,750).
48. DOCSFT_150205_301.JPG: Department of Justice Building
49. DOCSFT_150205_304.JPG: Department of Justice Building: Constructed: 1931-1935 Architects: Zantzinter, Borie and Medary of Philadelphia, Pa. Carl Paul Jennewein was selected by the architects to produce some fifty-six works of architectural sculpture for this building's exterior and interior. Although he began his career as a trained modeler and mural painter, he was self taught sculptor. He won the Prix de Rome competition as sculptor in 1916 and devoted the rest of his life to sculpture. Various studio assistants on the project included Henry Kreis, Leo Lentelli, Armin A. Scheler, and Carl L. Schmitz. The models for an estimated 267 exterior and interior decorative ornaments were made by Anthony DiLorenzo of New York under Jennewein's supervision. The John Donnelly Company carved the limestone architectural sculpture. The sculptures were produced and executed between 1932 and 1936 at an estimated cost of $188,300 (in 1986 dollars, $1,503,185).
Wikipedia Description: Herbert C. Hoover Building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Herbert C. Hoover Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce.

The building is located at 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, on the block bounded by Constitution Avenue NW to the south, Pennsylvania Avenue NW to the north, 15th Street NW to the west, and 14th Street NW to the east. It is located in the Federal Triangle, east of President's Park South (the Ellipse), north of the National Mall, and west of other Department of Commerce buildings, the John A. Wilson Building, and the Ronald Reagan Building. The building is owned by the General Services Administration.

Completed in 1932, it was renamed after Herbert Hoover in 1981. Hoover served as Secretary of Commerce (1921–1928) and later President (1929–1933). The closest Washington Metro station is Federal Triangle.

The National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. (in the basement) and the White House Visitor Center (on the first floor) are both in the Hoover Building.

History:

The Department of Commerce was established after President William Howard Taft signed legislation creating the department on his last day in office, March 4, 1913, splitting the former Department of Commerce and Labor into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor.

In 1928, Congress authorized the purchase of land in what is now known as the Federal Triangle for departmental offices. The authorization was part of a wave of government construction; the 1926 Public Buildings Act permitted the government to hire private architects for the design of federal buildings, which led to large-scale construction of public buildings, including the development of the 70-acre (280,000 m2) Federal Triangle site between the Capitol and the White House. Soon afterward Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon and the Board of Architectural Consultants, composed of leading architects and headed by Edward H. Bennett of the Chicago architectural firm of Bennett, Parsons, and Frost, developed design guidelines for the site. Under Bennett's direction, each member of the board designed one of the buildings in the Federal Triangle complex to "provide each government agency or bureau with a building that would address its functional needs, while combining the individual buildings into a harmonious, monumental overall design expressive of the dignity and authority of the federal government." Louis Ayres, a member of the board, was selected as the architect for the Department of Commerce Building. Ayres, Arthur Brown Jr. (assigned to the Interstate Commerce Commission building), and William Adams Delano (assigned to the United States Post Office Department Building) were charged with forming the west end of the Triangle and creating an open green mall.

Construction began on October 4, 1927, when Herbert Hoover was the Secretary of Commerce, and the cornerstone was laid on July 10, 1929, early in Hoover's presidential term. The building was completed in 1932; at that time, it was the largest office building in the world. The building was renamed after Hoover in December 1981 by act of Congress. U.S. Representative Arlan Stangeland of Minnesota co-sponsored the bill and asked the House of Representatives to "pay tribute to this great Commerce Secretary," making no mention to Hoover's presidency, which was marked by the beginning of the Great Depression. Democratic Representative John G. Fary of Illinois, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds brought the bill up for consideration as a favor to Republicans. An aide was quoted as saying, "He was a little concerned what some people might think of him bringing up a bill to honor Herbert Hoover in the midst of a Republican recession." The building was officially dedicated as the Herbert C. Hoover Building on April 25, 1983, coinciding with the release of the first volume of George H. Nash's biography The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer.

Design and art:

The building is rectangular and measures approximately 320 feet (98 m) east to west and 1,020 feet (310 m) north to south. It forms almost the entire west side of the Federal Triangle from Constitution Avenue to E Street. The building contains more than 3300 rooms joined by unbroken corridors one thousand feet long. Flexible partitions rather than permanent walls were a part of the original design for many of the offices to allow for changes in departmental organization. The New York Times has described it as "sprawling."

The Malcolm Baldrige Great Hall (named after Howard M. Baldrige, Jr., Commerce Secretary 1981–1985 under Ronald Reagan) is located on the first floor of the north end of the building, facing Pennsylvania Avenue, houses the White House Visitor Center, operated by the National Park Service.

The Great Hall is 225 feet (69 m) long and 62 feet (19 m) wide and was originally used as the Patent Search Room for more than three million patents cataloged by the Department of Commerce (the United States Patent and Trademark Office is part of the Commerce Department). As part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations, the Great Hall became the Bicentennial Visitor Center in 1976 and until 1989 housed the Washington Tourist Information Center. Renovations began in July 1993 with the restoration of the ornate plaster ceiling to restore the simple elegance of the Great Hall. The original Indiana limestone walls, bronze doors, Vermont marble base and accent flooring, and Italianate bronze chandeliers were cleaned and refurbished. In March 1995 the White House Visitor Center was opened.

Aspects of other buildings built in Federal Triangle in the 1930s are present in the building, including courtyards (natural light and ventilation are provided to inner offices by six interior courtyards and a Neoclassical (Greek Revival) architectural style (a Doric colonnade on three sides).

The 15th Street facade stretches almost three city blocks and has four pedimented pavilions featuring sculptures by James Earle Fraser and Haig Patigian. The National Aquarium is located in the basement and has been open to the public since the building was completed in 1932. The Department of Commerce Library Services Branch, a library mainly used by Commerce and other federal government employees and academics, is also located inside the building.

Because the Census Bureau is a part of the Commerce Department, the official Population Clock is located in the lobby of the Hoover Building. It briefly malfunctioned in 1982 when it showed some 50 million more Americans than estimated.
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