Old Post Office Pavilion
Encyclopedia
The Old Post Office Pavilion, also known as Old Post Office and Clock Tower and officially renamed the Nancy Hanks Center in 1983, is a building of the United States federal government. Built in 1892-99, it is located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue
(the intersection of 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
), NW, in Washington, D.C.
Its rustication, strong semi-circular arches, squat clustered columns united by a foliate Sullivanesque
capital-frieze, make it the last major example of Richardsonian Romanesque
architecture to be constructed in the District of Columbia. Its 315 ft (96 m)-high clocktower makes the building the largest commercial building and the third tallest structure in Washington, D.C. Scarcely used as a post office
, it has been rehabilitated today into office and retail space shared by the federal government and private businesses. The expansive interior atrium is now home to shops, federal offices, entertainment space and a food court.
National Park Service
rangers from Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site
provide tours of the Old Post Office Tower affording one of the most spectacular views of Washington from its 270 feet (82.3 m)-high observation deck. The tower includes an exhibit room depicting the building's long struggle for survival. Visitors can also view the Bells of Congress, replicas of those at Westminster Abbey
and given by the Ditchley Foundation
to the United States
in 1983 to celebrate the bicentennial of the end of the Revolutionary War. The Washington Ringing Society sounds The Bells of Congress every Thursday evening and on special occasions. The official bells of the United States Congress
, they are one of the largest sets of change ringing
bells in North America. Free tours of The Old Post Office Pavilion Clock Tower are offered daily. More information is available by calling (202) 606-8691.
Leland Stanford
of California
; the new post office was hoped to revitalize the seedy neighborhood between the Capitol building
and the White House
. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke
, Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department
in the Romanesque Revival style that Henry Hobson Richardson
(died 1886) had popularized in the 1880s; construction commenced in 1892. Edbrooke later designed the Federal Court House and Post office for the Upper Midwest, now called the "Landmark Center"
(1902) in St Paul, Minnesota.
When completed in 1899, the massive edifice was the largest office building and first building incorporating a steel frame in Washington. The steel frame supports floors and interior constructions, but the outer walls, five feet thick at their base, are still self-supporting. It was also the first federal building on Pennsylvania Avenue and the first government building to have its own power plant. Opening ceremonies were marred when the postmaster of Washington fell to his death down an elevator shaft.
During construction, however, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago
had popularized the classicizing formulas of Beaux-Arts architecture at the expense of Victorian forms. The Romanesque Revival arches on low clustered columns, rustication
, and Sullivanesque
foliate ornament made the building old-fashioned at its opening in 1899. The new structure was derided in the New York Times as "a cross between a cathedral and a cotton mill". The Old Post Office Pavilion was less than ten years old when cries were heard that it should be torn down. One local man, Nathan Rubinton, carved a model of the building by hand so that when it was torn down, people would remember how it looked.
In 1914, the District of Columbia Mail Depot was moved to a larger building constructed next to Union Station
. Although only 15 years old, the building at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue was dubbed the "old" post office. In the 1920s, Treasury Secretary
Andrew Mellon's building commission developed the surrounding Federal Triangle
complex and actively sought the building's demolition.
The Postmaster General
moved to a newly constructed office building directly across 12th Street in 1934, and the fate of the building appeared to be sealed. The only reason that the Old Post Office was not razed then was a lack of money due to the Great Depression
. For the next 40 years the building served as overflow space for several government agencies. As no particular agency was made responsible for it, the building fell into decay.
By 1962, the neighborhood around the building had also declined. President
John F. Kennedy
appointed a Pennsylvania Avenue Commission to study ways to improve the area; in 1964 it returned several recommendations, including demolition of the Old Post Office Building to allow completion of the Federal Triangle. In 1970 and 1971, demolition permits were issued and Congress appropriated the money for the building's removal.
But local citizens who had grown to admire the building's architecture banded together to save it. Nancy Hanks
, the politically influential chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts
, joined the effort and prevailed in convincing Congress to reverse its decision. In 1973 the Old Post Office was added to the National Register of Historic Places
, and starting in 1976 it was extensively renovated, including scrubbing its blackened exterior.
On February 15, 1983, the Old Post Office was officially renamed the Nancy Hanks Center in recognition of her devotion to the arts and the preservation of architecturally significant buildings. The building houses the offices of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
as well as the National Endowment for the Arts
.
An exhibit room in the renovated tower depicts the struggle for survival of the Old Post Office building. The same exhibit room used to house the model of the building hand-carved by Nathan Rubinton (1882-1958), but it was returned to the Smithsonian Institution, which had loaned the model.
The New York Times reported that as of 2011 that because the building costs the government $6.5 million each year to operate and has fallen . The General Services Administration
, which manages the building, is currently seeking offers to redevelop the building. Several hotel operators have expressed interest; Donald Trump
's Trump Hotel Collection and Hilton
's Waldorf Astoria in collaboration with SOM
and Metropolitan Partnership are among them.
Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. that joins the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street", it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches...
(the intersection of 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. that joins the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street", it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches...
), NW, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Its rustication, strong semi-circular arches, squat clustered columns united by a foliate Sullivanesque
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
capital-frieze, make it the last major example of Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
architecture to be constructed in the District of Columbia. Its 315 ft (96 m)-high clocktower makes the building the largest commercial building and the third tallest structure in Washington, D.C. Scarcely used as a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, it has been rehabilitated today into office and retail space shared by the federal government and private businesses. The expansive interior atrium is now home to shops, federal offices, entertainment space and a food court.
National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
rangers from Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site
Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site
Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the city of Washington, D.C. Established on September 30, 1965, the site is roughly bounded by Constitution Avenue, 15th Street NW, F Street NW, and 3rd Street NW...
provide tours of the Old Post Office Tower affording one of the most spectacular views of Washington from its 270 feet (82.3 m)-high observation deck. The tower includes an exhibit room depicting the building's long struggle for survival. Visitors can also view the Bells of Congress, replicas of those at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
and given by the Ditchley Foundation
Ditchley Foundation
The Ditchley Foundation is a British organisation based at Ditchley House near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, which aims to promote international relations, especially Anglo-American relations, through a programme of around fifteen annual conferences on matters of international interest...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1983 to celebrate the bicentennial of the end of the Revolutionary War. The Washington Ringing Society sounds The Bells of Congress every Thursday evening and on special occasions. The official bells of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, they are one of the largest sets of change ringing
Change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
bells in North America. Free tours of The Old Post Office Pavilion Clock Tower are offered daily. More information is available by calling (202) 606-8691.
History
In 1880, Congress approved the building of a new post office. By legend, the site was selected by SenatorUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Leland Stanford
Leland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
; the new post office was hoped to revitalize the seedy neighborhood between the Capitol building
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
and the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative federal and state governments that were spurred by his stint in...
, Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
in the Romanesque Revival style that Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
(died 1886) had popularized in the 1880s; construction commenced in 1892. Edbrooke later designed the Federal Court House and Post office for the Upper Midwest, now called the "Landmark Center"
Landmark Center (St. Paul)
St. Paul’s historic Landmark Center, completed in 1902, originally served as the United States Post Office, Court House, and Custom House for the state of Minnesota. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke, who served as Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1891-92...
(1902) in St Paul, Minnesota.
When completed in 1899, the massive edifice was the largest office building and first building incorporating a steel frame in Washington. The steel frame supports floors and interior constructions, but the outer walls, five feet thick at their base, are still self-supporting. It was also the first federal building on Pennsylvania Avenue and the first government building to have its own power plant. Opening ceremonies were marred when the postmaster of Washington fell to his death down an elevator shaft.
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
had popularized the classicizing formulas of Beaux-Arts architecture at the expense of Victorian forms. The Romanesque Revival arches on low clustered columns, rustication
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
, and Sullivanesque
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
foliate ornament made the building old-fashioned at its opening in 1899. The new structure was derided in the New York Times as "a cross between a cathedral and a cotton mill". The Old Post Office Pavilion was less than ten years old when cries were heard that it should be torn down. One local man, Nathan Rubinton, carved a model of the building by hand so that when it was torn down, people would remember how it looked.
In 1914, the District of Columbia Mail Depot was moved to a larger building constructed next to Union Station
Union Station (Washington, D.C.)
Washington Union Station is a train station and leisure destination visited by 32 million people each year in the center of Washington, D.C. The train station is served by Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter rail services as well as by Washington Metro subway trains and local buses...
. Although only 15 years old, the building at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue was dubbed the "old" post office. In the 1920s, Treasury Secretary
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
Andrew Mellon's building commission developed the surrounding Federal Triangle
Federal Triangle
The Federal Triangle is a triangular area in Washington, D.C. formed by 15th Street NW, Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and E Street NW. Federal Triangle is occupied by 10 large city and federal office buildings, all of which are part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic...
complex and actively sought the building's demolition.
The Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
moved to a newly constructed office building directly across 12th Street in 1934, and the fate of the building appeared to be sealed. The only reason that the Old Post Office was not razed then was a lack of money due to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. For the next 40 years the building served as overflow space for several government agencies. As no particular agency was made responsible for it, the building fell into decay.
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
appointed a Pennsylvania Avenue Commission to study ways to improve the area; in 1964 it returned several recommendations, including demolition of the Old Post Office Building to allow completion of the Federal Triangle. In 1970 and 1971, demolition permits were issued and Congress appropriated the money for the building's removal.
But local citizens who had grown to admire the building's architecture banded together to save it. Nancy Hanks
Nancy Hanks (NEA)
Nancy Hanks was the second chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts . She was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon and served from 1969 to 1977, continuing her service under President Gerald R. Ford. During this period, Hanks was active in the fight to save the historic Old Post Office...
, the politically influential chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, joined the effort and prevailed in convincing Congress to reverse its decision. In 1973 the Old Post Office was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and starting in 1976 it was extensively renovated, including scrubbing its blackened exterior.
On February 15, 1983, the Old Post Office was officially renamed the Nancy Hanks Center in recognition of her devotion to the arts and the preservation of architecturally significant buildings. The building houses the offices of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is an independent agency of the United States government that promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of the nation's historic resources, and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy.The goal of the...
as well as the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
.
An exhibit room in the renovated tower depicts the struggle for survival of the Old Post Office building. The same exhibit room used to house the model of the building hand-carved by Nathan Rubinton (1882-1958), but it was returned to the Smithsonian Institution, which had loaned the model.
The New York Times reported that as of 2011 that because the building costs the government $6.5 million each year to operate and has fallen . The General Services Administration
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S...
, which manages the building, is currently seeking offers to redevelop the building. Several hotel operators have expressed interest; Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
's Trump Hotel Collection and Hilton
Hilton
-Companies:* Hilton Worldwide, a global hospitality company based in the United States** Hilton Hotels, an international chain of hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide** Hilton Garden Inn, a chain of hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide...
's Waldorf Astoria in collaboration with SOM
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...
and Metropolitan Partnership are among them.
External links
- Old Post Office Pavilion management company
- National Park Service: Old Post Office Tower
- US General Services Administration: Old Post Office