VIEW NORTHWEST FROM THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT
Lack of space in this book makes it necessary merely to mention the more important of the other monumental buildings in the National Capital. Detailed information concerning them may be found in the author’s Washington the National Capital and in other books on Washington. They should be studied in connection with the buildings described in this chapter.
Attention is called first to the group of monumental semipublic buildings, classical in design, on Seventeenth Street north of Constitution Avenue and along that Avenue from Seventeenth Street west to the Potomac River. It has been said that nowhere else in the world is there such a fine group of marble buildings.
This Gallery had its beginning in the year 1869. It ranks as one of the great art galleries in the United States. The present building (at New York Avenue and Seventeenth Street) was designed by Ernest Flagg, architect, and completed in 1897. It is built of Georgia marble. It houses rare masterpieces of painting and sculpture.
Adjacent to the Corcoran Gallery on the south, the American National Red Cross occupies three large buildings constructed of Vermont marble. They were designed by Trowbridge & Livingston, architects, of New York City. The Red Cross had its beginning during the Civil War. In 1905 the organization was chartered by Congress along its present lines. There are 5,500,000 adult members and 8,500,000 Junior members (as of June 30, 1938).
The next building to the south is the headquarters of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It faces Seventeenth Street, was designed by Edward Pearce Casey, architect, built of Vermont marble, and completed in 1905. The cornerstone was laid April 19, 1904, the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. On that date the organization holds its convention in Washington each year. It was founded October 11, 1890, and on February 1, 1938, numbered 142,744 members, with about 2,500 chapters in all parts of the United States.
Another of the Society’s buildings, facing Eighteenth Street, in this square, is the leading auditorium of the city. It was designed by John Russell Pope, architect, built of Alabama limestone, and completed in October, 1929. The auditorium seats 4,000 persons. On page 278 there is a picture of the building. The mural decorations of the interior are by J. Monroe Hewlett, architect.
This building, at the corner of Seventeenth Street and Constitution Avenue, is considered by some to be the most beautiful in Washington. It was designed by Albert C. Kelsey and Paul P. Cret, architects, in the Spanish-classical style of architecture. It was built of Georgia marble and was dedicated April 26, 1910. It is the headquarters of the 21 Republics of the Pan American Union. In it is the famous Hall of the Americas. Andrew Carnegie contributed $850,000 toward the building, and the United States Government contributed the 5-acre tract, on which stood the Van Ness Mansion (1815) and the David Burnes cottage, which stood there in the days of George Washington.
Designed by Waddy B. Wood, architect, the new Department of the Interior building occupies two squares between C and E and Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets. It is built of Indiana limestone and is the largest air-conditioned office building in the world.
This building, designed by J. H. deSibour, architect, is classical in design and built of white Georgia marble. It was completed in 1933. It is four stories in height and houses the large and growing office of the Surgeon General of the United States and his staff of assistants. In its location on Constitution Avenue it forms a part of the frame for the Lincoln Memorial.
Completed in 1937, this building forms the center of the group of monumental marble buildings along Constitution Avenue west of Seventeenth Street. The design, by Paul P. Cret, architect, is based on classical motives. It is built of white Georgia marble. It is the headquarters building for the Federal Reserve Board. In it is a large mosaic map of the United States by Ezra Winter, mural painter, showing the location of the 12 Federal Reserve branch banks in the different sections of the country.
This building, designed by Bertram G. Goodhue, architect, is immediately east of the Federal Reserve Board building. It is classical in design and built of white marble from Dover, N. Y. The building was dedicated by President Coolidge in April, 1924. The interior is decorated with paintings and decorations by Hildreth Meiere and Albert Herter; the sculptural decorations are by Lee Lawrie.
Immediately north of the Lincoln Memorial stands the American Institute of Pharmacy. It was designed by John Russell Pope, architect, and built of white Vermont marble. It is classical in its style of architecture, and in its location west of the National Academy of Sciences completes the group of buildings on Constitution Avenue that form a frame for the Lincoln Memorial. The building is the headquarters of the druggists in the United States. More than 14,000 druggists subscribed toward the building fund. The Pharmacopoeia of the United States, under which prescriptions and drugs are standardized, is supervised by the Institute.
This building, at Sixteenth and P Streets NW., is the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction. It is modeled after the tomb of Mausolus, at Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, which was regarded by the ancients as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Its 33 Ionic columns are 33 feet tall, suggesting the 33 degrees of Masonry. On each side of the main entrance is a colossal sphinx, symbolic of Divine Wisdom and Power, executed by A. A. Weinman, sculptor. The building was designed by John Russell Pope, architect.
At 16th and P Streets NW. is the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The building was designed by Carrére and Hastings, and shows an influence of the French classical style of architecture.
Dedicated in 1925, this building, at Connecticut Avenue and H Streets NW., is classical in its style of architecture and is adapted to modern office requirements. It was designed by Cass Gilbert, architect. Fully 13,000 business men representing almost 200 cities of the United States contributed toward the building.
The National Geographic Society, organized in 1888, “for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge,” is the largest educational and scientific body in the world.
In its 50 years the society has sponsored a series of notable explorations, discoveries, and research activities of our times, and it has developed its unique and beautifully illustrated National Geographic Magazine as a means of disseminating geographic information among its world-wide membership.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
CONSTITUTION HALL
The society’s administrative and editorial offices, at Sixteenth and M Streets NW., were enlarged by an addition which extends its handsome and dignified headquarters along a 214-foot frontage. A commodious and modern office building at Third Street and Randolph Place NE., is used for mailing its magazine, maps, and communications to its world-wide membership.
In its editorial, research, technical, photographic, and clerical departments, and in the publishing of the National Geographic Magazine, the society now employs more than 800 persons. It is the largest non-Government user of the National Capital’s post office facilities.
The society’s members, numbering 1,150,000 (December, 1938), represent every community of 100 or more persons in the United States, while its foreign membership of 183,709 includes residents in every country, colony, principality, and mandated area of the world which has any semblance of a postal system.
To each member goes monthly the National Geographic Magazine, which has been called the foremost educational periodical in the world; each member also receives every map and panoramic illustration as issued. Thus the society has distributed among its more than a million member homes some 20,000,000 wall maps, in color, in addition to the numerous sketch maps which accompany articles in the magazine.
The society’s weekly lectures, which are held in Constitution Hall, have become a part of the intellectual life of the National Capital. Since their inception more than 1,400 explorers, statesmen, and world travelers of note have addressed the Washington meetings. Such explorers as Rear Admiral Peary, Sir Francis Younghusband, Capt. Roald Amundsen, Colonel Lindbergh, and Rear Admiral Byrd have related their findings to the society’s members; also such noted travelers as the late Viscount Bryce, former Ambassador Jusserand, the late William Howard Taft, and Colonel Roosevelt, after his return from his African game hunt and his Amazon expedition.
When these lectures are of general interest they are reprinted and illustrated in the magazine for the society’s entire membership.
At its Sixteenth Street headquarters the society maintains a library of up-to-date geographic information, comprising some 20,000 volumes, in addition to maps, periodicals, and reports from foreign governments and geographic societies.
The leading universities of the city, such as Georgetown University, founded 1789; George Washington University, founded 1821; Catholic University, founded 1889; American University, founded 1893; Howard University, founded 1867; Columbia Institution for the Deaf, founded 1857; and Trinity College, Brookland, founded 1897; also have their monumental buildings.
In the Triangle group are to be found: Department of Commerce Building, York & Sawyer, architects; Department of Labor and Interstate Commerce Commission Building, Arthur Brown, architect; Post Office Department Building, Delano & Aldrich, architects; Department of Justice Building, Zantzinger, Borie & Medary, architects; Internal Revenue Building, Louis Simon, architect; National Archives Building, John Russell Pope, architect; Federal Trade Commission (Apex) Building, Bennett, Parsons & Frost, architects.
THE TRIANGLE GROUP OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS ALONG CONSTITUTION AVENUE
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES BUILDING
THE MAKERS OF THE CONSTITUTION
THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Other buildings are: The Central Heating Plant (for heating 75 buildings), Paul P. Cret, architect; Bureau of Engraving and Printing, W. B. Olmstead, architect; Smithsonian Institution (begun in 1846), James Renwick, architect; National Museum Building, Hornblower & Marshall, architects; Freer Gallery of Art, Charles A. Platt, architect; Department of Agriculture Building, Rankin, Kellogg & Crane, architects; Department of Agriculture South Building, the Supervising Architect; Naval Observatory; State, War, and Navy Building, A. B. Mullett, supervising architect; Old Pension Office Building (General Accounting Office); Army War College, McKim, Mead & White, architects; Walter Reed Hospital; Naval Hospital; Public Library, Ackerman & Ross, architects; United States Bureau of Standards; National Zoological Park (large new buildings completed in 1937); National Gallery of Art (now under construction), John Russell Pope, architect.
Arlington Memorial Bridge, McKim, Mead & White, architects; Calvert Street Bridge, Paul P. Cret, architect; Francis Scott Key Bridge, Nathan Wyeth, architect; Connecticut Avenue (Taft) Bridge, Edward P. Casey, architect, lions by R. Hinton Perry; Q Street Bridge, Glenn Brown and Bedford Brown, architects, A. Phimister Proctor, sculptor; Klingle Ford Bridge, Connecticut Avenue, Paul P. Cret, architect; New Chain Bridge, designed under supervision of Brig. Gen. Dan I. Sultan, former Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia; John Philip Sousa Bridge, Southeast, McKim, Mead & White, architects.
The cathedral is situated on Mount St. Alban, in the northwestern part of the city, on a hill 400 feet in height, said to be the highest point in the District of Columbia, giving a superb view over the National Capital.
The cathedral, also known as the National Cathedral, was designed by George F. Bodley, of London, and Henry Vaughn, of Boston. It is a typical fourteenth century Gothic edifice. The cornerstone was laid in 1907, and since then a large part of the cathedral has been completed. Its ultimate cost, it is estimated, will be $20,000,000. The central nave is about complete, the apse and north transept are finished as are also several of the chapels, such as the Bethlehem Chapel, the Norman Chapel, the Chapel of St. John, and the Chapel of St. Mary. There are costly stones in the building from many parts of the world, including a stone from Bethlehem, which formed the cornerstone.
WASHINGTON CATHEDRAL
WASHINGTON CATHEDRAL
NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
The building is constructed of limestone. The sculpture and beautifully stained glass windows form the principal decorations.
The total length of the building from the exterior of the apse at the eastern end to the main entrance at the western end will be 534 feet. The total spread of the transepts will be 215 feet, and each of these arms of the cross will be 105 feet wide. The ground area of the cathedral will be 71,000 square feet, and this will be ample to provide standing room for 27,000 persons or seating space for 7,500. The central tower will rise to a height of 262 feet and each of the two western towers will be 195 feet high. The nave will have a span of 40 feet and its height will be 95 feet.
Within the cathedral are buried Woodrow Wilson, our World War President; also Admiral George Dewey, General Nelson A. Miles, and several bishops of the Episcopal Church.
The grounds comprise 67 acres, and the carefully designed Bishop’s Garden forms an interesting feature. The National Cathedral School for Girls and for Boys and the College of Preachers are within the grounds.
This cathedral has been designed in the Roman-Byzantine style of architecture. It is located on Michigan Avenue, Brookland, in the Catholic University grounds. The cornerstone for the church was laid in 1920. It is estimated that the total cost will be $50,000,000. The architects are Maginnis & Walsh, of Boston, and Professor Frederick V. Murphy, architect, of Washington.
The building as designed is cruciform in plan, with a triple apse, at the focus of which is placed the central altar within a great baldachin. The apse is of vast scale and, with the presbytery that separates it from the transepts, will admit of important ceremonies. The dome will be 250 feet high; the tall campanile, or bell tower, 330 feet high. The building is to take its place with such notable memorials as Santa Maria Maggiore, of Rome, and Santa Maria del Fiore, of Florence. It is to stand as a symbol of American Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary. The availability of the Byzantine tradition for the rendering of this idea was readily perceived. The crypt, capable of seating approximately 1,500 persons, has been completed. Here a most interesting decorative scheme in terms of faïence has been introduced to enrich the effect of the vaults. The central altar is of Algerian onyx. The pavement is of Italian marble. The crypt is richly treated with still other marbles and with mosaics.
There is no city in the country that has so many representative churches as the city of Washington, which is undoubtedly due to the fact that this is the National Capital. The leading denominations of the country, recognizing the importance of religion in the life of the Nation, have erected or are raising funds for the erection of great edifices, including memorial churches, fittingly to represent them at the seat of government.
In chapter XX attention has already been directed to the earliest churches in Washington.
Among the notable buildings in the National Capital that have had a distinguished place since the early days of the Republic are the residences, embassies, and legations of the representatives from foreign countries. At the present time there are 53, representing the leading countries of the world.
The legation and embassy buildings are held territory of the respective countries to which they belong, and fly the flag of their respective nations, excepting on state occasions, when they fly both their own flag and that of the United States.
L’Enfant, in his plan of the city, contemplated diplomatic buildings to line the Mall. But as the Mall was delayed in its development for over a century, the museum type of building has been erected on the Mall and the diplomatic establishments located elsewhere. In later years the suggestion was offered to locate them in the vicinity of the State Department.
At the present time the embassies and legations are located, for the most part, in the residential section of northwest Washington. Quite a number are on Sixteenth Street in the vicinity of Meridian Hill Park. In more recent years several of the leading countries have built new embassies on spacious grounds. In this Great Britain has taken the lead, having built a large embassy on 4 acres of ground at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, near the Naval Observatory. Three blocks beyond, the Norwegian Legation building has recently been completed. In recent years the Imperial Japanese Government built a new embassy at 2514 Massachusetts Avenue. The French Government recently purchased the home of John Hays Hammond for its new embassy.
BRITISH EMBASSY
ITALIAN EMBASSY
A list of the countries having embassies and legations in Washington (with the exception of Estonia, whose representative is located in New York City) is as follows: