BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Old Post Office -- Exhibit: Museum

DC -- Old Post Office -- Exhibit: Museum:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Description of Pictures: This is the photo gallery in the basement on the route to the elevator.

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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. OPMUS_170408_002.JPG: Per the Residence Act of 1790, Congress specified that the "Territory of Columbia" be located along the Potomac River, between the Eastern Branch (the Anacostia River) and Conogochegue Creek (near Hagerstown, Maryland). This "Territory" was to encompass no more than "ten miles square." President Washington selected an area at the southeastern-most edge of this designated region.
2. OPMUS_170408_006.JPG: Beyond Politics, It was Personal 1788-1792 Though our Constitution authorized the creation of a "District" for "The Seat of the Government of the United States," our Constitutional Convention could not agree on a location for it. It took the negotiating skills of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to resolve this disagreement. As a result of their "Compromise of 1790," Congress authorized President Washington to choose a location for this "District" on the Potomac River. Without the Compromise of 1790 and President Washington's selection of the location of the "Territory of Columbia," you would not be standing here today.
3. OPMUS_170408_009.JPG: George Washington (1732-1799), first President of the United States, chose the location for the "Territory of Columbia."
4. OPMUS_170408_013.JPG: Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820), a surveyor, and Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), an African-American astronomer, were selected by Thomas Jefferson to establish the boundaries of the "Territory of Columbia."
5. OPMUS_170408_015.JPG: Locating the "Territory of Columbia"
6. OPMUS_170408_023.JPG: 1861 Pennsylvania Avenue
7. OPMUS_170408_028.JPG: Planning "Washington City"
8. OPMUS_170408_036.JPG: L'Enfant's "Grand" Vision 1791-1792 While Andrew Ellicott's team of surveyors was establishing the boundaries of the Territory of Columbia, Pierre Charles L'Enfant was planning "Washington City" at its core. With the insights of Thomas Jefferson, L'Enfant painted his plan on the District's canvas of farmland, pastures and forest. If you were standing here in 1791, you could be shin-deep in river water, as this spot was located on the edge of Tiber Creek, which often overflowed its banks. Though Tiber Creek was canalized in 1810 and covered by Constitution Avenue (B Street) in the 1870s, this building's wooden pilings, used because of the site's high water table, are a testament to the creek's continuing influence.
9. OPMUS_170408_038.JPG: Detail of L'Enfant's Plan (1791) One of the major elements of L'Enfant's plan was the canalization of Tiber Creek. Its course was to run west-east from the Potomac River to the foot of the Capitol, then south, and connect the Potomac River with the Anacostia River (Eastern Branch).
10. OPMUS_170408_043.JPG: Washington in Embryo (1792) At this time, the Potomac River was much wider than it is today and a major tidal estuary, Tiber Creek, flowed from east to west, just south of the President's House.
11. OPMUS_170408_049.JPG: Thomas Jefferson's Notes (1791) This sketch, which is believed to have been delivered to L'Enfant, clearly shows Jefferson's interests in including a President's House and a Capitol building joined by "Public Walks" in the plan for Washington City.
12. OPMUS_170408_051.JPG: Pennsylvania Avenue & 11th Street from the North (1874) Except for the covering of the Washington City Canal (1870s) and the construction of a new Central Market (1871), the neighborhood had not seen much improvement at the time this photo was taken.
13. OPMUS_170408_053.JPG: Washington City Canal from the West (1863) Opened in 1810 and covered in the 1870s by the City's controversial public works program, the west-east running portion of the Canal never functioned as much more than an open sewer.
14. OPMUS_170408_059.JPG: View of the neighborhood SSE from 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, toward the Mall (1855). Notice the construction materials for the Treasury Building's addition in the foreground and the Smithsonian "Castle" across the Mall in the background.
15. OPMUS_170408_061.JPG: Piggly Wiggly grocery delivery trucks parked on C Street, NW, east of the Old Post Office building (1910-1920).
16. OPMUS_170408_064.JPG: Shanties along the Canal (1864) During the Civil War, many African-Americans who had escaped slavery came to this city and built clusters of shacks along the edge of the Canal. They were among Murder Bay's most destitute residents.
17. OPMUS_170408_066.JPG: Center Market (1882) Located between 7th Street & 9th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and B Street, Center Market was the commercial heart of this neighborhood. To make way for the construction of the National Archives Building, the market was demolished in 1931.
18. OPMUS_170408_068.JPG: Transforming Murder Bay 1890 By the time of the Civil War, this area had become known as "Murder Bay," a reference to the many victims of crime, whose bodies were found in the nearby Washington City Canal. The location of the Old Post Office here in 1890, was intended to vitalize the area and to help introduce Washington, DC, as one of the world's great capitals, similar in grandeur to London and Paris.
19. OPMUS_170408_074.JPG: A Site for the Old Post Office (1) Site of the Old Post Office (2) New Center Market (3) Former location of shanties (4) Former location of Washington City Canal (5) Smithsonian Castle
20. OPMUS_170408_080.JPG: 1902 Pennsylvania Avenue
21. OPMUS_170408_091.JPG: Unique Design & Innovative Construction 1891-1899 The Old Post Office is the second tallest building in Washington DC, and was the first Federal building erected on Pennsylvania Avenue in the Federal Triangle. While its design was begun in 1891 under the direction of Willoughby Edbrooke, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, its construction was not completed until 1899. Though the building has been identified with the Richardsonian Romanesque style (RR), Edbrooke and subsequent Supervising Architects added elements of other architectural styles to the building's design.
22. OPMUS_170408_094.JPG: Architectural features
23. OPMUS_170408_102.JPG: The City's Main Post Office & the US Post Office Department's HQ From 1899 through 1914, both the city's Main Post Office and the US Post Office Department's Headquarters were located here. While the main Post Office relocated to a new building near Union Station in 1914, the US Post Office Department's Headquarters remained here until 1934, when it moved one block west to the opposite side of 12th Street.
24. OPMUS_170408_107.JPG: "Encourage people to dream about their cities... to consider the alternatives before they tear down." -- Nancy Hanks, NEA, Congressional Testimony, August 3, 1977
25. OPMUS_170408_113.JPG: Women's Suffrage Parade with the Old Post Office in the background (1913)
26. OPMUS_170408_117.JPG: Inaugural Parade for President Dwight Eisenhower with the Old Post Office in the background (1957)
27. OPMUS_170408_120.JPG: Inaugural Parade for President John F. Kennedy with the Old Post Office in the background (1961).
28. OPMUS_170408_122.JPG: Inaugural Parade for Theodore Roosevelt with the Old Post Office in the background (1905)
29. OPMUS_170408_125.JPG: WWI Victory Parade with the Old Post Office in the background (1919)
30. OPMUS_170408_132.JPG: Earliest known Photo of Pennsylvania Avenue, looking northwest from US Capitol (1843)
31. OPMUS_170408_138.JPG: A Front Row Seat on "America's Main Street" From the time of the city's founding, Pennsylvania Avenue has been regarded as "America's Main Street." It has served as the location for the celebration of some of our greatest triumphs and the funerals of some of our most revered leaders. When Americans have marched in protest, in exercise of their right to free speech, they did so here on Pennsylvania Avenue. When the Old Post Office opened here in 1899, it had a front row seat on America's Main Street to witness our country's history.
32. OPMUS_170408_141.JPG: Pennsylvania Avenue is the dark diagonal (mostly) stripe. Light brown area is the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site (NPS Jurisdiction). Blue outline is boundary of Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site District (1965) (National Register of Historic Places).
33. OPMUS_170408_152.JPG: Nancy Hanks (1927-1983) As second chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts (1969-1977), her tireless efforts were instrumental in saving the Old Post Office. A few months after her death, Congress renamed the Old Post Office Pavilion the "Nancy Hanks Center," in her honor.
34. OPMUS_170408_156.JPG: From "White Elephant" to Historic Landmark Considered innovative at the time of its design, postal officials eventually came to feel that the Old Post Office's vast interiors had become too confining for modern postal operations. During the ear;y twentieth century, as the vision for the District's downtown evolved, the building's location on Pennsylvania Avenue came to be viewed as an obstacle to development of the Federal Triangle. But, as time passed, the Old Post Office building established itself as an icon on the District's skyline and won the hearts of her citizens. When it achieved National Historic Landmark status in the 1970s, as a result of the concerted efforts of preservationists, the Old Post office's future was secured. Today, this building stands as a symbol of what can be accomplished when governments are responsive to the sentiments of their citizens.
35. OPMUS_170408_162.JPG: The McMillan Plan (1901) This comprehensive plan laid the groundwork for the development of The "Federal" Triangle, which would become the greatest threat to the building's survival.
36. OPMUS_170408_166.JPG: The "Federal" Triangle (1926) An outgrowth of the McMillan Plan, this plan proposed the razing of this area, including the Old Post Office, and the construction of a group of monumental neo-classical Federal office buildings.
37. OPMUS_170408_170.JPG: Where Luxury and History Meet More than a century after its opening, the Old Post Office, now Trump International Hotel, remains an iconic building and the hotel of choice for dignitaries, celebrities, business executives and leisure travelers. Trump International Hotel, Washington DC, includes 263 of the largest and most luxurious guestrooms and suited in Washington DC, with lofty 16-foot ceilings, soaring windows, beautifully restored woodwork and glittering crystal sources and chandeliers. Encompassing 38,000 square feet of meeting and event space, including the opulent 13,200 square foot column-free Presidential Ballroom, the largest among DC luxury hotels, the hotel boasts the 10,000 square foot Spa by Ivanka Trump, DC's first BLT Prime restaurant with celebrity chef David Burke, and this Old Post Office museum.
38. OPMUS_170408_174.JPG: Some photos had not been installed yet
39. OPMUS_170408_185.JPG: A New Vision for the Old Post Office By the end of the 20th century, it had become apparent that the Old Post Office needed a developer with the vision and experience to realize its full potential and make it an important contributor to the vibrant life of our Nation's Capital. In 2011, through a rigorous selection process for the country's most coveted development project, which included many competing development teams, the US Government's GSA awarded the honor of "developer" to The Trump Organization. From 2014 to 2016, The Trump Organization led a meticulous redevelopment of the Old Post Office, resulting in a 5-Star luxury hotel which befits the grandeur of this city -- the Trump International Hotel, Washington, DC.
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