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The Treasury Building

Robert Mills' (1781-1859) Treasury Building, in Washington, D. C., is a prime example of the neoclassical architecture that the politicians, planners, and architects of the nineteenth century felt was appropriate for the American capitol. The building is located on the west side of Fifteenth Street, between Pennsylvania and New York Avenues. It was constructed in the years 1836-42. An analysis of its setting, scale, technique, and function demonstrates how the rationality and grandeur of this style were used by Mills to give suitable form to official Washington.

President Andrew Jackson appointed Mills Surveyor of Public Buildings in 1836. Mills was also responsible for the Patent Office (1836-40, now the National Portrait Gallery), the Old Post Office (1839-42, now the International Trade Commission), and the Washington Monument (1836-88). Mills was a student of Benjamin Latrobe (1764-1820), who had preceded him in his official position, and who was largely responsible "for creating a rational and classical language for the public buildings of the new democracy" (Watkin, 1986, p. 442). Any analysis of Mills' buildings must, therefore, recognize that, for him, "architectural beauty resided in the logical and economical handling of the building program as expressed through the immutable principles of classicism" (Kostof, 1995, p. 635). In addition to these aesthetic concerns, the evocation of the classical world was intended to impress the viewer with the United States' claim to continuity with the greatness of past European civilization--especially with the Greek invention of democracy.

On its east side, facing Fifteenth Street, the Treasury Building's facade consists of an enormous colonnade, above a very plain, high basement. The building sits all the way forward on the lot, and occupies most of the block from north to south--stretching 336 feet. The colonnade is broken, at its very bottom, only in the center, where...

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The Treasury Building. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:30, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1694688.html