Herbert C. Hoover Building
Herbert C. Hoover Building | |
Location |
|
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°53′39.48″N 77°1′58.08″W / 38.8943000°N 77.0328000°W |
Built | 1932 |
Architect | Classical Revival |
Part of | Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site (ID66000865[1]) |
The Herbert C. Hoover Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce.
The building is located at 1401
Completed in 1932, it was renamed after
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.[5]
In 1928, Congress authorized the purchase of land in what is now known as the Federal Triangle for departmental offices.[6] 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.[6]
Soon afterward
Construction began on October 4, 1927, when
Only limited upgrades were made to the Herbert Hoover Building after 1932. By 2007, all other buildings in Federal Triangle had been renovated except the Herbert Hoover Building.[12]
In 2007, the General Services Administration announced an eight-phase, 13-year, $960 million modernization and renovation of the Herbert Hoover Building.[12] In part, the renovation will provide the building with a modern technology infrastructure, modern offices and energy-saving fixtures, and improved security.[13] The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved the renovation project in 2007.[14] The phases, each of which is to last 18 months, include:[15]
- Phase 1 — Construction of "swing space" to house staff while renovations occur; replacement of the HVACsystem cooling towers on the roof.
- Phase 2 — Renovation of the interior Corridor 1 (which runs parallel to Constitution Avenue NW); restoration of the entire exterior facade; and replacement of major utilities serving the building.
- Phase 3 — Renovation of the interior and replacement of the roof on Corridor 2 (the second corridor north of Constitution Avenue NW).
- Phase 4 — Renovation of the interior and replacement of the roof on Corridor 3 (the third corridor north of Constitution Avenue NW).
- Phase 5 — Renovation of the interior and replacement of the roof on Corridor 4 (the fourth corridor north of Constitution Avenue NW).
- Phase 6 — Renovation of the interior and replacement of the roof on Corridor 5 (the fifth corridor north of Constitution Avenue NW).
- Phase 7 — Renovation of the interior and replacement of the roof on Corridor 6 (the sixth corridor north of Constitution Avenue NW).
- Phase 8 — Renovation of the interior and replacement of the roof on Corridor 2 (the corridor parallel to Pennsylvania Avenue NW).
GSA's Federal Building Fund will contribute $605 million toward the renovation, while the Department of Commerce's contribution is $128 million. Another $225.6 million, provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, funded Phases 2 and 3. Both GSA and the Department of Commerce contributions are dependent upon annual congressional appropriations.[16] The Great Recession provided GSA with $40 million in savings.[13]
The project also proposed creating a new Constitution Avenue entrance for the
By late 2012, however, budget cuts led to an indefinite delay in completing the project.[17] Nonetheless, GSA pressed ahead with plans in February 2012 to create a more secure barrier around the Herbert Hoover Building. GSA proposed a steel cable barrier concealed by stone cladding, deep-buried steel piers, and collapsing sidewalks. Beautification elements included two reflecting pools along 14th Street NW, which would include public seating and Capital Bikeshare stations.[14]
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.[4] It forms almost the entire west side of the Federal Triangle from Constitution Avenue to E Street.[4] The building contains more than 3,300 rooms joined by unbroken corridors 1,000 feet (300 m) long.[4] 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.[4] The New York Times has described it as "sprawling."[5] The magnificent front of the building is its eastern facade. This east-facing facade is on Fourteenth Street, and contains sixty-three bays, or vertical spaces between columns divided into five portions with projecting sections at the ends and the center.[18] The large, oversized bronze doors were manufactured by the General Bronze Corporation.[19][20]
"The center section contains a dramatic Doric colonnade of twenty-four fluted columns, each forty-two feet tall, comprising the third through fifth floors. This section also contains the major pedestrian entrances, and its roofline is crowned with a repeating series of alternating carved eagles and torches. Elaborately treated bronze doors are set into each portal. Similar portals are used for the three central pedestrian doors, inset with elaborate rectangular granite openings and triangular pediments atop carved corbels. Clusters of three large, bronze, octagonal lamps, each with an acanthus base, rope molding, and spiraletes flank these doors."
GSA, Herbert Hoover Building
The
The 15th Street western
National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.
The
See also
- Contributing property
- General Services Administration
- Old Post Office Pavilion
- National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.
- J. Edgar Hoover Building (F.B.I. Headquarters)
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e "Clines, Francis X., and Phil Gailey. "Briefing." The New York Times 28 Dec. 1981.
- ^ "Visiting the White House Archived 2009-04-02 at the Wayback Machine."
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Federal Triangle Historic District." National Park Service.
- ^ a b c Farnsworth, Clyde H. "Washington Talk: The Commerce Department; A Many-Tentacled Agency Lights Up 75 Candles." The New York Times 3 Mar. 1988.
- ^ a b c d "U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC Archived 2006-09-27 at the Wayback Machine." General Services Administration. 21 Aug. 2007.
- ^ Gutheim, Frederick, and Antoinette J. Lee. Worthy of the Nation: Washington, DC, from L'Enfant to the National Capital Planning Commission Johns Hopkins UP: 2006, 181–189.
- ^ a b Pennoyer, Peter, and Anne Walker. The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich. W.W. Norton: 2003, p. 158.
- ^ a b c d e "Explore the Southern Trail: President's Park (White House)." National Park Service 5 Sept. 2005.
- ^ a b Clarity, James, and Warren Weaver. "Briefing." The New York Times 25 Apr. 1983.
- ^ "Find a Building: Search". www.gsa.gov. Retrieved Apr 7, 2020.
- ^ a b Office of the Inspector General. Review of Management of Herbert C. Hoover Building Renovation. OAE-19885. U.S. Department of Commerce. August 5, 2010, p. 2. Accessed 2013-02-06.
- ^ a b Medici, Andy. "Three Massive Government Projects That Could Be Killed By Budget Cuts." Federal Times. January 5, 2012. Archived April 9, 2013, at archive.today Accessed 2013-02-06.
- ^ a b c Neibauer, Michael. "Security Upgrades at D.C.'s Herbert Hoover Building May Enliven Dull Block." Washington Business Journal. February 4, 2013. Accessed 2013-02-06.
- ^ Office of the Inspector General. Review of Management of Herbert C. Hoover Building Renovation. OAE-19885. U.S. Department of Commerce. August 5, 2010, p. 2-3. Accessed 2013-02-06.
- ^ Office of the Inspector General. Review of Management of Herbert C. Hoover Building Renovation. OAE-19885. U.S. Department of Commerce. August 5, 2010, p. 3. Accessed 2013-02-06.
- ^ Medici, Any. "Budget Cuts Stall Dozens of Building Projects." Federal Times. December 16, 2012.
- ^ "Herbert Hoover Building (Commerce), Washington, DC". U.S. General Services Administration. Washington, DC: GSA. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
Its east-facing, Fourteenth Street facade contains sixty-three bays divided into five portions with projecting sections at the ends and the center.
- ^ "John Polachek, An Industrialist" (PDF). The New York Times. Obituaries: The New York Times Publishing. 18 April 1955. p. 22. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
In 1903, he became a supervisor of bronze manufacturing for Tiffany Studios. Founder of General Bronze Corporation Dies – Products Adorn Leading Buildings
- ^ General Bronze Corporation. "General Bronze Corporation: distinctive productions in all metals". Smithsonian Libraries. Washington, DC: General Bronze Corporation. pp. 1–15. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
Windows, doors, entrances, grills, railings, check desks, tablets, statuary in aluminum, bronze, nickel, iron.
- ^ "Sculpture". Joseph Kiselewski. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
- ^ "Fisheries Pediment, (sculpture)". siris-artinventories.si.edu. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
- ^ "Department of Commerce Library." United States Department of Commerce.
- United States Government Printing Office.
- ^ Hershey Jr., Robert D. "Washington Watch: The Future Of Oil Prices." The New York Times 19 July 1982.
- ^ "Overview & History — National Aquarium Newsroom". Archived from the original on 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
- ^ Freed, Benjamin R (2013-05-09). "National Aquarium in D.C. to Close September 30". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ "Washington, D.C." Check this page for the latest updates surrounding the future of the National Aquarium, Washington, D.C.. The National Aquarium. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
- This article incorporates text from the General Services Administration and National Park Service, which is public domain as a work of the United States federal government.
External links
- "Emporis building ID 270128". Emporis. Archived from the original on September 25, 2019.
- Geographic data related to Herbert C. Hoover Building at OpenStreetMap
- Herbert Hoover Building (Commerce), Washington, DC at General Services Administration's historic buildings
- Three Stories About the Department of Commerce Building at Ghosts of DC