Commerce and the Federal Triangle

The Herbert C. Hoover Building (HCHB), the Department of Commerce‘s headquarters building, is bound by Constitution Avenue, 14th Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, and 15th Street, in Northwest, Washington, DC.  Construction was completed and the building opened in 1932.  In 1981, the Commerce building was renamed after Herbert C. Hoover.  Mr. Hoover served as Secretary of Commerce (1921–1928) and later President (1929–1933).  The Internal Revenue building and the HCHB were the first two buildings constructed in the Federal Triangle. 

In the mid-1800s, the Federal Triangle area used to be home to some of Washington, DC’s most notorious and seedy neighborhoods such as ‘Murder Bay’ and ‘Hooker’s Division.’  Murder Bay was, most notably, a terribly dangerous neighborhood just east of the White House.  Within the confines of Murder Bay — now occupied by the massive Federal office buildings of the Federal Triangle — was Hooker’s Division, or ‘The Division,’ in which there were close to 100 houses of prostitution.

The Public Buildings Act of 1926 set aside $165 million for the construction of several new government buildings in the Federal Triangle area, with $17 million dedicated to the construction of the Commerce building.  In 1929, President Herbert C. Hoover laid the cornerstone for the building using the same shovel George Washington used when laying the cornerstone of the Capitol Building.

Constructed with 9 million bricks and Indiana limestone, the Commerce building had over 3,300 rooms and, at the time of its dedication, was the largest federal office building in the country with 1.8 million square feet of space.

Additional interesting facts about the HCHB:

The HCHB is built on top of the ancient river bed. 

The building was constructed on top of an old river bed, the Tiber Creek.  Before George Washington and Pierre Charles  L’Enfant visualized the National Capital, the Tiber Creek flowed east from the Potomac River.  The Creek was free-flowing until 1815, when it was channeled to become part of the Washington City Canal.  In 1929, while digging the foundation for the nearby Internal Revenue building, workers uncovered a dock that was over 100 years old.  Stories have been told that pirates used this tributary for their nefarious activities.

The foundation of the HCHB does not rest on bed rock and is anchored and made secure by 13,500 concrete piles.  These piles, together with other types of structural reinforcement, support the steel columns that formed the framework of the building.

Alligators in the HCHB

Below is an article from The Washington Post dated June 24, 1932:

“There are just three things causing a great amount of worry among the thousands of Government employees in Washington – Pay Cut, Furlough and Dismissal.  But only those working the new Department of Commerce Building have actually come face to face with these problems.

From 9 o’clock in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon, employees of this building are kept on the jump attempting to avoid ‘Pay Cut, Furlough and Dismissal.’  Even Secretary of Commerce Lamont directs his steps in the opposite direction when confronted with these problems.

But these folks can’t be blamed, ‘Pay Cut, Furlough and Dismissal’ are really something to worry about.  They are (the names of three) alligators and have free run of the entire Commerce Department basement.

The three ‘gators came from Chicago, a present of the Bureau of Fisheries.  Zoo officials have refused to accept them.  There is no room to house them, they say.”