BGuthrie Photos: DC Heritage Trails: Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail

DC Heritage Trails: Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail:

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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. TRFTRI_190130_01.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail You are standing in the Federal Triangle, a group of buildings whose grandeur symbolizes the power and dignity of the United States. Located between the White House and the Capitol, these buildings house key agencies of the U.S. Government. The Federal Triangle is united by the use of neoclassical revival architecture, drawing from styles of ancient Greece and Rome that have influenced public buildings throughout the ages. Although each structure was designed for a specific government department or agency, they all share limestone fa�ades, red-tiled roofs and classical colonnades. Their architectural features, following traditions of the Parisian School of Fine Arts (�cole des Beaux-Arts), illustrate each building's original purpose. Most of the Federal Triangle was constructed between 1927 and 1938. However, the Old Post Office and the John A. Wilson Building survive from an earlier era, while the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was not completed until 1998. In 1791 Pierre L'Enfant designed a city plan for the new cpaital in Washington under the direction of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The L'Enfant Plan overlaid broad avenues on a street grid with areas reserved for prominent buildings and parks. This area originally followed L'Enfant's vision as a center for businesses serving the municipal and federal governments. By the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), it had become a hodgepodge of boarding houses, stables, and light industry. This disarray, and the growing need for government office space, led to calls for redevelopment. In 1901 the Senate Park Commission, known as the McMillan Commission, created a new plan for Washington's parks and monumental areas and redefined the Triangle as a government center. In 1926 Congress authorized a massive building program that drew inspiration from classical architecture to create today's monumental Federal Triangle. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is an Official Washington, D.C. Walking Trail. The self-guided, 1.75-mile tour of 16 signs offers about one hour of gentle exercise. Its theme comes from "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans," attributed to visionary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, chair of the McMillan Commission. For more information on Federal Triangle buildings, please visit www.gsa.gov. For more information on DC neighborhoods and walking tours, please visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is produced by the U.S. General Services Administration in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation and Cultural Tourism DC.
2. TRFTRI_190130_05.JPG: The FBI's National Crime Information Center, pictured here in 1967, computerized mug shots, crime records, and other data to link police agencies nationwide.
3. TRFTRI_190130_14.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail 3 G-Men and G-Women The Federal Bureau of Investigation is headquartered across Pennsylvania Avenue from this spot. Thanks to popular media, it may be one of the better-known government agencies. Since the 1930s Hollywood has found great stories among the "G-men" (government agents). The FBI often cooperates in these productions. The FBI was established in 1908 as the Justice Department's detective unit. Its agents investigated allegations of investment fraud, opium smuggling, munitions trafficking, and other federal crimes. The agency's power increased during national security crisis and as it brought mob figures and other violent criminals to justice. Under the half-century directorship of native Washingtonian J. Edgar Hoover, the bureau grew in responsibility and helped professionalize modern law enforcement, emphasizing scientific analysis. Drawing on a century of experience, the modern FBI protects the nation against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, enforces U.S. criminal laws, and provides leadership for the nation's law enforcement organizations. Formerly housed in the Department of Justice building to your left, the FBI relocated across the street in 1975. Designed by Charles F. Murphy, the building's modern brutalist style (from the French "B�ton brut," or raw concrete) contrasts with the earlier buildings of Federal Triangle. On this corner you can see the Justice Department's classically inspired Art Deco style night doors, torchares (light fixtures), and other decorative aluminum features. High above the doors is a colorful mosaic ceiling by local artist/craftsman John Joseph Earley. Looking to your left along 10th Street, you can see the continuation of the city's street plan as Federal Triangle buildings frame the view to the National Museum of Natural History.
4. TRFTRI_190130_20.JPG: Actor Efram Zimbalist, Jr., left, photographed with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1865, played an FBI inspector in a 1960s television series.
5. TRFTRI_190130_26.JPG: This 1930s child's badge, whistle, and handcuffs set was inspired by the increasingly famous FBI agents, or "G-men," of the Hoover era.
6. TRFTRI_190130_28.JPG: FBI agents of the 1940s scientifically test soil samples, analyze fingerprints, and break a coded message. New agents practice dusting a car for fingerprints under the watchful eye of a supervisor, mid-1960s.
7. TRFTRI_190130_31.JPG: FBI agents of the 1940s scientifically test soil samples, analyze fingerprints, and break a coded message. New agents practice dusting a car for fingerprints under the watchful eye of a supervisor, mid-1960s.
8. TRFTRI_190130_34.JPG: FBI agents of the 1940s scientifically test soil samples, analyze fingerprints, and break a coded message. New agents practice dusting a car for fingerprints under the watchful eye of a supervisor, mid-1960s.
9. TRFTRI_190130_41.JPG: A detail from an Art Deco style concrete mosaic ceiling by John Joseph Earley above a driveway to the Justice Department courtyard.
10. TRFTRI_190130_48.JPG: The FBI building replaced these 19th-century commercial buildings, photographed in 1968.
11. TRFTRI_190312_02.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail You are standing in the Federal Triangle, a group of buildings whose grandeur symbolizes the power and dignity of the United States. Located between the White House and the Capitol, these buildings house key agencies of the U.S. Government. The Federal Triangle is united by the use of neoclassical revival architecture, drawing from styles of ancient Greece and Rome that have influenced public buildings throughout the ages. Although each structure was designed for a specific government department or agency, they all share limestone fa�ades, red-tiled roofs and classical colonnades. Their architectural features, following traditions of the Parisian School of Fine Arts (�cole des Beaux-Arts), illustrate each building's original purpose. Most of the Federal Triangle was constructed between 1927 and 1938. However, the Old Post Office and the John A. Wilson Building survive from an earlier era, while the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was not completed until 1998. In 1791 Pierre L'Enfant designed a city plan for the new cpaital in Washington under the direction of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The L'Enfant Plan overlaid broad avenues on a street grid with areas reserved for prominent buildings and parks. This area originally followed L'Enfant's vision as a center for businesses serving the municipal and federal governments. By the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), it had become a hodgepodge of boarding houses, stables, and light industry. This disarray, and the growing need for government office space, led to calls for redevelopment. In 1901 the Senate Park Commission, known as the McMillan Commission, created a new plan for Washington's parks and monumental areas and redefined the Triangle as a government center. In 1926 Congress authorized a massive building program that drew inspiration from classical architecture to create today's monumental Federal Triangle. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is an Official Washington, D.C. Walking Trail. The self-guided, 1.75-mile tour of 16 signs offers about one hour of gentle exercise. Its theme comes from "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans," attributed to visionary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, chair of the McMillan Commission. For more information on Federal Triangle buildings, please visit www.gsa.gov. For more information on DC neighborhoods and walking tours, please visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is produced by the U.S. General Services Administration in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation and Cultural Tourism DC.
12. TRFTRI_190312_09.JPG: President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy wave to the crowd along Pennsylvania Avenue during his inaugural parade, 1961.
13. TRFTRI_190312_13.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail 1 America's Main Street The broadest and most important street in Pierre L'Enfant's Plan of 1791 for the nation's capital connects to the Capitol and the White House. Pennsylvania Avenue. Almost every American knows its name. Almost every visitor to the Washington sets foot on it. As America's Main Street, Pennsylvania Avenue is where Americans practice their rights to free speech and assembly. It is our ceremonial stage, where the nation comes together to celebrate - new presidents, national holidays, and victories - and to mourn, as at funeral processions for seven of the eight presidents who died in office. L'Enfant's plan called for a grid of streets broken by wide diagonal avenues offering visual connections among the city's important buildings. The avenues, he suggested, would be named for the states. Later, city authorities honored Pennsylvania, home of the nation's seat of government at the time of the Revolution, with the most central avenue. The area where you are standing first developed in 1801 as Washington's main marketplace. In 1871 the ornate, red-brick Center Market arose just across the avenue, and shops, wholesalers, and the small businesses clustered nearby. In the 1930s the market district disappeared, replaced by the stately, classically detailed National Archives and its neighboring, grand Federal Triangle buildings. Thirty years later, this side of the avenue had grown shabby. President John F. Kennedy noted the decline as he traveled the parade route from his inauguration at the Capitol to the White House in January 1961. President Kennedy appointed scholar and policy expert David Patrick Moynihan to plan the restoration of the avenue as the "great thoroughfare of the city of Washington."
14. TRFTRI_190312_18.JPG: The L'Enfant Plan specified the "President's house" (later White House) and "Congress house" (Capitol) as anchors for the new city.
15. TRFTRI_190312_22.JPG: Center Market, seen across the avenue in 1914, was the city's main food supplier from 1872 until it was razed for the National Archives in 1931.
16. TRFTRI_190312_34.JPG: Thomas Jefferson, who advised L'Enfant on the plan for Washington, planned these double rows of poplar trees along the 160-foot-wide Pennsylvania Avenue in 1807, Charles Burton painted them in 1824.
17. TRFTRI_190312_36.JPG: The National American Women Suffrage Association demands votes for women on Pennsylvania Avenue one day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, 1913.
18. TRFTRI_190312_40.JPG: Press photographers jog alongside President Dwight D. Eisenhower's car on Pennsylvania Avenue during his 1953 inaugural parade.
19. TRFTRI_190507_01.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail You are standing in the Federal Triangle, a group of buildings whose grandeur symbolizes the power and dignity of the United States. Located between the White House and the Capitol, these buildings house key agencies of the U.S. Government. The Federal Triangle is united by the use of neoclassical revival architecture, drawing from styles of ancient Greece and Rome that have influenced public buildings throughout the ages. Although each structure was designed for a specific government department or agency, they all share limestone fa�ades, red-tiled roofs and classical colonnades. Their architectural features, following traditions of the Parisian School of Fine Arts (�cole des Beaux-Arts), illustrate each building's original purpose. Most of the Federal Triangle was constructed between 1927 and 1938. However, the Old Post Office and the John A. Wilson Building survive from an earlier era, while the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was not completed until 1998. In 1791 Pierre L'Enfant designed a city plan for the new cpaital in Washington under the direction of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The L'Enfant Plan overlaid broad avenues on a street grid with areas reserved for prominent buildings and parks. This area originally followed L'Enfant's vision as a center for businesses serving the municipal and federal governments. By the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), it had become a hodgepodge of boarding houses, stables, and light industry. This disarray, and the growing need for government office space, led to calls for redevelopment. In 1901 the Senate Park Commission, known as the McMillan Commission, created a new plan for Washington's parks and monumental areas and redefined the Triangle as a government center. In 1926 Congress authorized a massive building program that drew inspiration from classical architecture to create today's monumental Federal Triangle. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is an Official Washington, D.C. Walking Trail. The self-guided, 1.75-mile tour of 16 signs offers about one hour of gentle exercise. Its theme comes from "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans," attributed to visionary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, chair of the McMillan Commission. For more information on Federal Triangle buildings, please visit www.gsa.gov. For more information on DC neighborhoods and walking tours, please visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is produced by the U.S. General Services Administration in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation and Cultural Tourism DC.
20. TRFTRI_190507_05.JPG: Looking west at the new Federal Triangle, 1938
21. TRFTRI_190507_16.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail 2 Grandeur for the People The National Archives, keeper of the nation's founding documents and most important federal government records, occupies this important spot halfway between the Capitol and the White House. Before the Archives building was constructed, federal records were stored haphazardly all over town. The nation's first archivist began centralizing them here in 1935. In 1898 the United States won the Spanish-American War, and national leaders began questioning whether their capital city reflected the nation's new importance in world affairs. This viewpoint, the centennial in 1900 of the federal government's arrival in Washington in 1800, and concerns of the nation's foremost architects spurred the Senate Park Commission, led by Senator James McMillan, to develop a new city plan. The McMillan Plan revived and expanded elements of Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 vision for the capital. It also looked to the Beaux-Arts style of buildings at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition (world's fair). The fair awed visitors and launched the City Beautiful movement, which promoted classically inspired groups of buildings for governmental or institutional functions. The McMillan Plan redesigned the National Mall and designated this 70-acre triangle for new government offices. Before World War I intervened, however, only one structure was built, the John A. Wilson Building (Washington, DC's city hall, 1908), at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. In 1926 President Calvin Coolidge signed the Public Buildings Act, revived the McMillan Plan, and assigned Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon to work with leading American architects to create the Federal Triangle. It stands today as the nation's largest great public project combining classical architecture and sculpture. The U.S. Navy Memorial across the street was dedicated in 1987, the Navy's 212th anniversary.
22. TRFTRI_190507_20.JPG: The 1901 McMillan Plan proposed a triangular grouping of government office buildings between the White House and the U.S. Capitol. They are shown in black in the upper right quadrant of this plan.
23. TRFTRI_190507_31.JPG: Shown here during work on the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, architects Daniel Burnham (far left), Charles McKim (third from right), and sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens (sixth from right) also served on the Senate Park Commission, organized by Senator James McMillan, right.
24. TRFTRI_190507_37.JPG: The architecture of the Federal Triangle reflects the style and scale of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, seen here, which brought classically inspired civic buildings into vogue and launched the City Beautiful movement in American.
25. TRFTRI_190507_42.JPG: This 1919 view of the Pennsylvania Avenue streetcar and loading platform captures the, at right,the block across the avenue where the U.S. Navy Memorial now stands.
26. TRFTRI_190507_50.JPG: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at his desk in the White House, 1935. In the park to your right is a desk-sized stone memorial to the president who made the National Archives a federal agency. Roosevelt once said that if a memorial to him were built, it should be no larger than his desk, and located here. In 1997 a larger, landscape memorial to him opened along the Tidal Basin.
27. TRFTRI_190528_01.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail 8 Open For Business Across the street the Department of Commerce's Herbert C. Hoover Building anchors the Federal Triangle, just as the department - with its mission of promoting trade, supporting economic development, and strengthening the competitiveness of American companies - historically anchors the U.S. economy. Upon completion in 1932, the building was the world's largest office complex, covering almost eight acres and filling three city blocks with 3,300 rooms. It brought under one roof offices that had been scattered among 20 locations in Washington. The massive Hoover Building has six interior courtyards that bring light and air into offices. Exterior sculptures, plaques, and inscriptions illustrate the department's wide-ranging activities. The monumental structure reflects the nation's prosperity when Louis Ayres of the New York firm of York and Sawyer designed it and when President Herbert Hoover laid the cornerstone in May 1929. A few months later, however, the world economy crashed, launching the Great Depression. Fortunately, construction on the Federal Triangle proceeded creating jobs that became harder to find as the depression deepened. When the Commerce Department was founded in 1903, it took in the Census Bureau (established in 1790), Bureau of Navigation (1789), Lighthouse Service (1789), Patent Office (1802), Coast and Geodetic Survey (1807), Bureau of Steamboat Inspection (1838), and Bureau of Fisheries (1871). When the building was complete, it also housed the bureaus of Mines, Foreign and Domestic Commerce, and Aeronautics, as well as the Radio Division. Changing times have consolidated or eliminated many bureaus, but the department's mission of supporting the American economy remains constant.
28. TRFTRI_190528_09.JPG: The central figure for James Earle Fraser's Aeronautics sculpture is hoisted into position on the 15th Street side of the Hoover Building. The sculpture's two "mortals" fasten wings to a "demi-god" pilot, suggesting the greatness of human flight.
29. TRFTRI_190528_13.JPG: The Commerce Department's vaulted law library. The library and the White House Visitor Center are open to the public and can be entered on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the building.
30. TRFTRI_190528_17.JPG: To decorate the fa�ades of the building, James Earle Fraser designed bas-reliefs representing Commerce's 16 bureaus in 1930. The National Aquarium, an initiative of the Bureau of Fisheries, is located inside the Commerce Building and is open to the public.
31. TRFTRI_190528_22.JPG: Craftsmen create the bronze doors found inside the Hoover Building. An example of their handiwork is shown at right.
32. TRFTRI_190528_28.JPG: Craftsmen create the bronze doors found inside the Hoover Building. An example of their handiwork is shown at right.
33. TRFTRI_190528_34.JPG: President Herbert Hoover, who earlier served as secretary of commerce, addressed the nation at the 1929 cornerstone-laying ceremony of the Department of Commerce building.
34. TRFTRI_190528_38.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail You are standing in the Federal Triangle, a group of buildings whose grandeur symbolizes the power and dignity of the United States. Located between the White House and the Capitol, these buildings house key agencies of the U.S. Government. The Federal Triangle is united by the use of neoclassical revival architecture, drawing from styles of ancient Greece and Rome that have influenced public buildings throughout the ages. Although each structure was designed for a specific government department or agency, they all share limestone fa�ades, red-tiled roofs and classical colonnades. Their architectural features, following traditions of the Parisian School of Fine Arts (�cole des Beaux-Arts), illustrate each building's original purpose. Most of the Federal Triangle was constructed between 1927 and 1938. However, the Old Post Office and the John A. Wilson Building survive from an earlier era, while the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was not completed until 1998. In 1791 Pierre L'Enfant designed a city plan for the new cpaital in Washington under the direction of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The L'Enfant Plan overlaid broad avenues on a street grid with areas reserved for prominent buildings and parks. This area originally followed L'Enfant's vision as a center for businesses serving the municipal and federal governments. By the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), it had become a hodgepodge of boarding houses, stables, and light industry. This disarray, and the growing need for government office space, led to calls for redevelopment. In 1901 the Senate Park Commission, known as the McMillan Commission, created a new plan for Washington's parks and monumental areas and redefined the Triangle as a government center. In 1926 Congress authorized a massive building program that drew inspiration from classical architecture to create today's monumental Federal Triangle. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is an Official Washington, D.C. Walking Trail. The self-guided, 1.75-mile tour of 16 signs offers about one hour of gentle exercise. Its theme comes from "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans," attributed to visionary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, chair of the McMillan Commission. For more information on Federal Triangle buildings, please visit www.gsa.gov. For more information on DC neighborhoods and walking tours, please visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is produced by the U.S. General Services Administration in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation and Cultural Tourism DC.
35. TRFTRI_190528_42.JPG: The monumental Commerce Department serves as the short leg of the Federal Triangle. It features a base of rusticated granite blocks, a colonnade with Doric capitals, and a cornice embellished with eagles.
36. TRFTRI_190528_51.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail 9 Completing the Triangle The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center honoring the 40th president, filled the last open space in the Federal Triangle. When former First Lady Nancy Reagan dedicated it in 1998, the redevelopment of this area of Pennsylvania Avenue, begun by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, was complete. The Reagan Building's 3.1 million square feet of space make it the second-largest federal building. Only the Pentagon is larger. The only Federal Triangle building with both private and government offices houses the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Customs Service. James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, New York, designed the limestone exterior as a modern re-working of its neighbors' neoclassical style. The public is encouraged to explore this landmark building featuring a contemporary soaring atrium; conference, exhibit, and event spaces; and a tribute to President Reagan. Planners of the Federal Triangle originally envisioned a "Great Plaza" here, designed as a formal French garden. However as the Federal Triangle began to take shape, construction workers parked on the site. Federal employees and their cars soon followed. With war looming in the late 1930s, the government shelved the Great Plaza idea. The parking lot lingered for six decades. In 1947 President Harry S Truman dedicated a memorial here to diplomat and former Secretary of Commerce Oscar S. Straus (1850-1926). Appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, Straus was the first Jewish cabinet member. Visible behind you on the plaza, the privately funded memorial by Adolph Weinman displays two cast-bronze sculptures: Liberty of Worship and The Voice of Reason.
37. TRFTRI_190528_56.JPG: The Pennsylvania Avenue dome of the Reagan Building pays homage to the presence of monumental domes throughout the city.
38. TRFTRI_190528_59.JPG: Keith Sonnier's Route Zenith, a 49-foot-tall neon glass, and metal sculpture, plays on the subtle interchange of light and reflection in the glass-covered atrium of the Reagan Building. The U.S. General Service Administration's Art in Architecture Program commissioned the artwork.
39. TRFTRI_190528_62.JPG: The Straus Memorial under construction amid a sea of cars, 1942.
40. TRFTRI_190528_67.JPG: A very young model poses for sculptor Adolph Weinman. His Liberty of Worship sculpture forms part of the Straus Memorial in front of the Reagan Building's main entrance.
41. TRFTRI_190528_72.JPG: On 14th Street, the building's Indiana Limestone fa�ade echoes the columns and rusticated blocks of its earlier neighbors.
42. TRFTRI_190528_75.JPG: In 1987 at West Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, President Ronald Reagan challenged the Soviet Union's leader: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Two years later the wall came down, reuniting Germany. A section of the wall, a gift to Americans from grateful Berliners, may be seen inside the Ronald Reagan Building.
43. TRFTRI_190528_81.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail You are standing in the Federal Triangle, a group of buildings whose grandeur symbolizes the power and dignity of the United States. Located between the White House and the Capitol, these buildings house key agencies of the U.S. Government. The Federal Triangle is united by the use of neoclassical revival architecture, drawing from styles of ancient Greece and Rome that have influenced public buildings throughout the ages. Although each structure was designed for a specific government department or agency, they all share limestone fa�ades, red-tiled roofs and classical colonnades. Their architectural features, following traditions of the Parisian School of Fine Arts (�cole des Beaux-Arts), illustrate each building's original purpose. Most of the Federal Triangle was constructed between 1927 and 1938. However, the Old Post Office and the John A. Wilson Building survive from an earlier era, while the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was not completed until 1998. In 1791 Pierre L'Enfant designed a city plan for the new cpaital in Washington under the direction of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The L'Enfant Plan overlaid broad avenues on a street grid with areas reserved for prominent buildings and parks. This area originally followed L'Enfant's vision as a center for businesses serving the municipal and federal governments. By the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), it had become a hodgepodge of boarding houses, stables, and light industry. This disarray, and the growing need for government office space, led to calls for redevelopment. In 1901 the Senate Park Commission, known as the McMillan Commission, created a new plan for Washington's parks and monumental areas and redefined the Triangle as a government center. In 1926 Congress authorized a massive building program that drew inspiration from classical architecture to create today's monumental Federal Triangle. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is an Official Washington, D.C. Walking Trail. The self-guided, 1.75-mile tour of 16 signs offers about one hour of gentle exercise. Its theme comes from "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans," attributed to visionary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, chair of the McMillan Commission. For more information on Federal Triangle buildings, please visit www.gsa.gov. For more information on DC neighborhoods and walking tours, please visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is produced by the U.S. General Services Administration in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation and Cultural Tourism DC.
44. TRFTRI_190528_84.JPG: This aerial view shows the expanse of the Ronald Reagan Building and how its red-tile roof edge echos the red-roofed Federal Triangle.
45. TRFTRI_190624_01.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail 15 Temple for Our History You're standing at the National Archives Building, the first permanent repository for the original records of the federal government. They include the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, displayed inside with other fascinating documents. More than one million people visit each year to see those records and others on exhibit. Thousands research their family histories using census, land, or military pension records. Others delve into the papers of Congress and the Supreme Court, military records from the Revolution onward, documents pertaining to Native Americans, and more. For decades Congress debated where and how to store America's most precious documents. Over time many were damaged or destroyed. In 1913 Congress directed the treasury secretary to plan a National Archives building. Construction began in 1931, and three years later President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the National Archives as a government agency. Architect John Russell Pope, who also designed the Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery of Art, planned the building to stand out from the rest of the Federal Triangle. With 72 Corinthian columns and elaborately sculptured pediments, it embodies the importance of safeguarding historical records. At the stairs are James Earle Fraser's Heritage, with mother holding baby and urn filled with ashes of past generations, as well as Guardianship, whose protective sword and lion skin convey the need to safeguard records for future generations. The National Archives and Records Administration maintains billions of records nationwide in presidential libraries, regional archives, and federal records centers, and a research facility in College Park, Maryland.
46. TRFTRI_190624_08.JPG: Construction proceeds on the building that President Herbert Hoover called "this temple of our history." This building squarely aligns with the city's street grid, unlike its Federal Triangle neighbors that face the diagonal Pennsylvania Avenue. National Archives and Records Administration
47. TRFTRI_190624_11.JPG: After 28 years on display at the Library of Congress, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence arrive via Marine Corps armored personnel carrier and military escort for placement in the National Archive, 1952. Library of Congress
48. TRFTRI_190624_16.JPG: In this 1938 view of the National Archives, you can see the pediment sculpture Recorder of the Archives, by James Earle Fraser and Laura Gardin Fraser. At center is the recorder of the archives flanked by men and women receiving documents. The dogs symbolize the Archives' role as guardians. Library of Congress
49. TRFTRI_190624_22.JPG: Citizens view the Constitution in the newly renovated Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom, 2004. Photography by Earl McDonald, National Archives and Records Administration
50. TRFTRI_190624_25.JPG: A paper conservator treats the Constitution before re-housing it during the 2000-2005 renovation of the National Archives building. National Archives and Records Administration
51. TRFTRI_190624_32.JPG: Make No Little Plans Federal Triangle Heritage Trail You are standing in the Federal Triangle, a group of buildings whose grandeur symbolizes the power and dignity of the United States. Located between the White House and the Capitol, these buildings house key agencies of the U.S. Government. The Federal Triangle is united by the use of neoclassical revival architecture, drawing from styles of ancient Greece and Rome that have influenced public buildings throughout the ages. Although each structure was designed for a specific government department or agency, they all share limestone fa�ades, red-tiled roofs and classical colonnades. Their architectural features, following traditions of the Parisian School of Fine Arts (�cole des Beaux-Arts), illustrate each building's original purpose. Most of the Federal Triangle was constructed between 1927 and 1938. However, the Old Post Office and the John A. Wilson Building survive from an earlier era, while the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was not completed until 1998. In 1791 Pierre L'Enfant designed a city plan for the new cpaital in Washington under the direction of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The L'Enfant Plan overlaid broad avenues on a street grid with areas reserved for prominent buildings and parks. This area originally followed L'Enfant's vision as a center for businesses serving the municipal and federal governments. By the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), it had become a hodgepodge of boarding houses, stables, and light industry. This disarray, and the growing need for government office space, led to calls for redevelopment. In 1901 the Senate Park Commission, known as the McMillan Commission, created a new plan for Washington's parks and monumental areas and redefined the Triangle as a government center. In 1926 Congress authorized a massive building program that drew inspiration from classical architecture to create today's monumental Federal Triangle. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is an Official Washington, D.C. Walking Trail. The self-guided, 1.75-mile tour of 16 signs offers about one hour of gentle exercise. Its theme comes from "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans," attributed to visionary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, chair of the McMillan Commission. For more information on Federal Triangle buildings, please visit www.gsa.gov. For more information on DC neighborhoods and walking tours, please visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org. Make No Little Plans: Federal Triangle Heritage Trail is produced by the U.S. General Services Administration in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation and Cultural Tourism DC.
52. TRFTRI_190624_35.JPG: A workman surveys the Corinthian capitals at the tops of the National Archives' columns, the most elaborate in the Federal Triangle. National Archives and Records Administration
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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