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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. |