page_title: Federal Triangle
section_title: Beginning: Hoover administration
hierarchical_section_title: Federal Triangle / Construction of original seven buildings / Beginning: Hoover administration
caption_attribution_description: Federal triangle in Washington DC.
context_page_description: 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 Site. Seven of the buildings in Federal Triangle were built by the U.S. federal government in the early and mid-1930s as part of a coordinated construction plan that has been called "one of the greatest building projects ever undertaken" and all seven buildings are now designated as architecturally historic. The Federal Triangle Washington Metro station serves Federal Triangle and the surrounding area.
context_section_description: The Treasury Department signed a contract for razing of existing buildings at the Internal Revenue site in October 1926. The size of the Commerce building was set at 1,000 feet (300 m) long in March 1927, and survey work at the site began on March 31, 1927 (even though final plans for the project were still unclear). Work on all buildings was postponed in May 1927. Work began again in September 1927 when demolition work on the Commerce and Internal Revenue sites began again. Excavation of both sites began on November 21, 1927. Additional demolition contracts were awarded for both sites in April 1928, and foundation work for the Internal Revenue building began in June 1928. Due to the soft nature of the ground, 8,000 pilings were driven into the earth to support the foundation. Work on Internal Revenue's superstructure began on March 8.
  The cornerstone of the first building to be constructed, the Internal Revenue building, was laid by Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon on May 25, 1929. While digging its foundation, workers uncovered a dock which was at least 100 years old. Indiana Limestone was used for the facing, and Tennessee marble for the columns. The sites of all the Triangle buildings had been established in their revised positions by May 1929, with two exceptions: The positions of the Justice and Archives buildings remained as originally planned (with Justice in the east), and the apex space remained unallotted. President (and former Commerce Secretary) Herbert Hoover laid the cornerstone of the Commerce building on June 10, 1929, using the same trowel President George Washington had used to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. The construction contract for the Commerce building (set at $13.567 million) had been signed in March, and the contract for its limestone facade—according to at least one newspaper account, the largest stone contract in world history—was awarded in April. By then, the cost of the Commerce building had risen to $17.5 million. Due to the formerly marshy condition of the soil and several submerged streams nearby, more than 18,000 pilings had to be set to construct the Commerce building. Water pressure from the submerged Tiber Creek made it too difficult to drive the piles, so a deep-sea diver descended into the underground Tiber Creek and drilled a hole 20 feet (6.1 metres) deep into the earth. A hose was inserted into the hole, and water pumped from the earth until the water table dropped and the driving of the piles could be accomplished. The October 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression led newly elected President Herbert Hoover to increase spending on existing public works as a means of stimulating the economy. No funds had been authorized yet for the Archives, Independent Offices, Justice, or Labor buildings, and Hoover secured an additional $2.5 million a year for 10 years from Congress for this purpose. Work on the Justice and Independent Offices/Labor buildings now proceeded.
  Treasury officials hoped to have the Post Office building under construction and ground broken for the Justice building by December 1930. But a major design change and funding choices were made in 1930. Pope convinced the Commission on Fine Arts to switch the positions of the Department of Justice and National Archives, giving the Justice building more space. Congress also amended the Public Buildings Act to permit private (not just federally employed) architects to bid on design contracts, and agreed to fund the construction of the Justice, Labor/ICC, National Archives, and Post Office buildings.
  1931 saw much of the Federal Triangle project near completion. In March 1931, Congress appropriated $3 million to begin construction of the Apex Building, the last structure to be funded. Demolition began on the site the following November. The Internal Revenue building was completed and occupied in June. It was finished a year ahead of schedule, and contained more than 672,000 square feet (62.5 square metres) of office space (3.4 percent more than originally planned). But work had yet to begin on 
caption: Aerial photo taken in 1934 showing the western portion of the Federal Triangle
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