Washington, DC's First Executive Office Buildings

In 1820, the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, in addition to the White House, was also home to four, two story red brick buildings that housed the offices of the Treasury, State, War, and Navy departments. The location of these four buildings was the result of L’Enfant’s plan to physically separate the legislative and executive branches and to place the executive office buildings contiguous to the White House so that the president could be in close proximity to his closest cabinet advisors.   

Engraving of the U.S. Treasury building in 1804.  Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1872

 

The columned east wing of the Treasury building fronted by the second State Department building, circa 1865.  (LOC)

An act of Congress of July 16, 1790 provided that, beginning on the first Monday in December 1800, the District of Columbia would be the permanent seat of government and that suitable buildings should be erected for the accommodation of Congress, the President, and the public offices of the government.  But on that Monday, December 1, 1800, the Treasury was only public office building to have been built. 

Of the 131 federal workers who moved to Washington, over half of them (69) were housed in the new Treasury building.  The building for the State Department on the other side of the White House was not completed until 1801 and the Treasury building served as the temporary home to the State Department for 3 months. 

State Department building in 1831.  The original Treasury building is behind to the right.  Library of Congress.

Only months after it was occupied, the Treasury building experienced the first of three fires.  On January 20, 1801 a fire started on the first floor, burning through to the second floor but was extinguished without doing serious damage to the building.


In the spring of 1801, the State Department was complete and on May 2, 1801 staff began the move from temporary offices in the Six Buildings (located on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue between Twenty-first and Twenty-second Streets Northwest) to the newly completed building that it also shared with the War and Navy Departments.

By 1805, the records were beginning fill the Treasury building.  In 1806, architect Benjamin Latrobe was hired to design a fireproof extension for the Treasury Building. 

In August 1814, when British troops burned the Capitol, White House, and the two executive office buildings, the fireproof addition designed by Latrobe was the only part of the Treasury Building that survived the attack.  After British soldiers had already set the building ablaze, they spotted the iron door to the repository.  Expecting to find the government’s treasury valuables, a British officer broke into the room through a window only to discover boxes of old files.

Benjamin Latrobe's 1805 architectural drawing for a fireproof repository for the Treasury Department, Washington, D.C. (LOC)

President Madison and the staff of the four departments took up temporary accommodations in nearby residences.  White House architect James Hoban was placed in charge of repairing the damaged White House and the two department buildings. 

By 1818, space was tighter than ever and Congress provisioned for the erection of two additional buildings, one for the War Department and the other for the Navy Department, similar in appearance to the Treasury and State buildings, to be placed to the north of the existing buildings.  In 1819, the two new buildings were complete.   The State Department moved to the new building to the northeast of the White House and in front of the Treasury building.  The new northwest building became the home of the War Department, and the old southwest building (formerly that of the State Department) became the home of the Navy Department.

In 1833, the Treasury building was once again engulfed in flames.  Late in the evening of March 30, an arsonist set fire to the building hoping to destroy some incriminating pension records.  Volunteers saved what records they could, mostly from the Latrobe vault extension that once again largely survived a fire.   The Treasury offices were relocated to a row of buildings on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the Willard Hotel.  After this fire, Latrobe’s vault became a tool shed for White House grounds keepers.  Andrew Jackson had it remodeled into an orangery, which lasted until it was finally torn down in 1857 to make room for the south extension of the Treasury building.

Architect Robert Mills, who was working as a draftsman in the Land Office of the Treasury Department, was asked to prepare a set of drawings of the Treasury building as it was before it burned, with the plan to reconstruct the original building.  But, he also submitted drawings for a new, much grander building in the heavier and more imposing Classical Revival style that was ultimately selected for the new Treasury building. 

Historical lore says that the location of the next Treasury Department building was chosen by Andrew Jackson who, having a difficult relationship with congress, impetuously stuck his cane in the ground and said “build it here” where it would block his view of the Capitol.  Jackson did play a role in choosing the site for the building as Robert Mills had also suggested other sites and the location of the original Treasury and the existing State department buildings was also a deciding factor for the location of the new building. 

The construction of new Treasury building was finally authorized by Congress in 1836.  After construction had begun, the building met with such heavy opposition that a congressional bill in 1838 calling for its demolition was narrowly defeated by a vote of 94-91.  By 1839, the east and center wings of the Treasury following were finished, boasting an impressive colonnade of 30, three-story columns running the length of the east wing along 15th Street.   These originally sandstone columns were replaced in 1908 with solid granite columns to match those on the porticos of the north and south extensions.   After the Capitol and the White House, the east wing of the Treasury building is the third oldest federally occupied building in Washington DC.

The colonnade of the east wing of the Treasury building, circa 1857. (LOC)

In 1855, Congress approved the enlargement of the Treasury building, adding a new south and west wing.  The designs of these wings were provided by Thomas Ustick Walter, architect of the dome of the Capitol building, and were completed in 1864. 

The basement for the south wing of the Treasury building being laid, 1855.  The old State Department building is to the right. (LOC)

In 1866, the old State Department building was torn down to make way for the north and final wing of the Treasury Department Building.  The north wing, facing Pennsylvania Avenue, was designed by Alfred B. Mullet,  Supervising Architect of the Treasury.  Mullet would also design the new State, War, and Navy building on the opposite side of the White House (now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building).  With the demolition of their building, the State Department was forced to move yet again, this time to the Washington City Orphan Asylum Building where it remained until it relocated in the new the new State, War, and Navy Building in 1875.  

The north wing of the Treasury building opened with President Ulysses S. Grant’s disastrous inaugural reception on March 4, 1869.  The building was barely completed and dust from the stone cutting still filled the air, choking guests and covering them with grit.  The cloak room was staffed by illiterate Treasury employees.  Not able to read the coat check tags, they ended up throwing all the coats in a heap and leaving.  Women either left in the cold without their coats or just took one off the pile.  Others just spent the night in the building sobbing.

Solid granite columns are hoisted into place on the north portico of the Treasury Building, September 16, 1867.  Library of Congress.

In 1864, Under Secretary of War Edwin Stanton’s direction, two floors were added to the Old War and Navy buildings to meet the expanding space requirements created by the Civil War.  The White House’s telegraph office, which Lincoln often referred to as his “office,” was located on the second floor of the War building.  Lincoln would spend endless hours there and sometimes the entire night following activities on the battlefields.  By the end of the war, the War department had spread to over 11 buildings.

Old War Office circa 1865.  In 1864, Under Secretary of War Edwin Stanton’s direction, two floors were added to the Old War and Navy buildings with an additional wing to the Navy building.  Photo: Author's collection.

In 1871, Congress appropriated $500,000 to construct a new building for the State, War and Navy departments to the west of the White House on the site of the War and Navy buildings.  The building was designed by Alfred B. Mullett, but unlike the Greek Revival style of the Treasury building, this building was designed in the then vogue, imposing French Second Empire style with elaborate facades and high mansard roofs.  It was constructed in stages beginning with the south wing in order to avoid interfering with operation of the War and Navy Departments while it was under construction.  

The old Navy Department building in 1884, shortly before it was torn down.  The east and south wings of the new State, War, and Navy Building are behind (U.S. Department of the Navy)

The south wing of the State, War and Navy building was completed in 1875 and that year the State Department moved into the new building.  The War and Navy Departments moved into the east wing immediately after it was finished in 1879.  That same year, the Army building was demolished to make way for construction of the north wing of the building.  In 1884, the Navy Department building was demolished to make way for the erection of the final center and west wings that were completed in 1888.   When it was completed, it was the largest office building in Washington, with nearly 2 miles of corridors.

The State, Navy, and War building, 1898 (LOC)

By the time the building was completed in 1888, the French Second Empire style was already passé.  Mark Twain called it "the ugliest building in America" and later Harry Truman would call it "the greatest monstrosity in America."

Even with the size of the new building, the separate departments soon needed more space and gradually began to vacate the building.  The Navy Department was first to leave in 1918, followed by the War Department in 1938, and finally by the State Department in 1947.  In 1949, the building was turned over to the Executive Office of the President and renamed the Executive Office Building.  It continues to house various agencies that comprise the Executive Office, including the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Council.

Originally published in the InTowner Newspaper, Oct. 2012