The next part of the tour begins at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue S. To get there, walk east along
Pennsylvania Avenue, past Blair House and between Lafayette Park and the White House. Lafayette Park
has a number of bronze statues that have been cleaned fairly recently. The White House is built of
sandstone that was painted white; the paint was used in part to improve the durability of the stone. After
you pass the White House, you will come to the Treasury Building. Turn right onto 15th Street and walk
south, towards the Washington Monument and the Mall. The total distance from the Renwick to the comer
of 15th and Pennsylvania is about three-fourths of a kilometer (half a mile).
Federal Triangle Buildings -- Site 13
On the east side of 15th Street, beginning at E Street, is the Commerce Department building, which was
constructed of limestone in the 1930's. This building is part of the Federal Triangle, a cluster of Federal
office buildings in the area bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, and 15th Street, built
primarily during the New Deal administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Some sculptures on the
buildings were done by participants in the WPA program. These buildings were cleaned in the 1960's,
probably by sandblasting. Look for fossils in relief and alteration crusts in some sheltered places on the
carved work. Some of the blackening on this building is from dirt and organic material trapped or growing
in the rough surface of the stone.
All of the Federal buildings that form the Federal Triangle
(between Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, and
15th Street) are made of limestone.
Sites 9-14
Map of All Sites on the Tour
[102 K image]
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