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Freedman's Bank Building

African-American history of Washington, D.C.Beaux-Arts architecture in Washington, D.C.Buildings of the United States government in Washington, D.C.Cass Gilbert buildingsDistrict of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites
Government buildings completed in 1919Historic district contributing properties in Washington, D.C.NRHP infobox with nocatOffice buildings in Washington, D.C.United States Department of the Treasury
Treasury Annex
Treasury Annex

The Freedman's Bank Building, previously known as the Treasury Annex, is a historic office building located on the corner of Madison Place and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. It sits on the east side of Lafayette Square, a public park on the north side of the White House, and across from the Treasury Building. The adjoining properties include the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building to the north and former Riggs National Bank to the east. The current building is the third constructed on the site. The first, a house built in 1831, was later seized by the federal government during the Civil War. It was demolished and replaced with the elaborately decorated headquarters of Freedman's Savings Bank, established by Congress in 1865 for recently emancipated slaves and freedmen. Despite the bank's initial success, the combination of mismanagement, fraud, and the Panic of 1873 resulted in the bank's failure and closure in 1874. Over 60,000 African Americans collectively lost the equivalent of $75 million. This caused a distrust of the government and banks for many generations. The third and present building to be constructed on the site was the Treasury Annex, designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux-Arts style and completed in 1919. It was the first large federal building planned as part of a massive redevelopment of Lafayette Square. The McMillan Plan, which called for the demolition of all buildings on Madison Place and Jackson Place, was only partially completed in the Lafayette Square area. The other completed building, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building, was also designed by Gilbert. The initial plan of eventually expanding the Treasury Annex to H Street NW never happened due to several factors. The construction of Federal Triangle, the work of early historic preservationists, and assistance from President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, meant several of the historic buildings on Madison Place were never demolished and the Annex was never expanded. The Annex was renamed the Freedman's Bank Building in 2016 to mark the importance of the site's history. The Freedman's Bank Building is a contributing property to the Lafayette Square Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and to the Fifteenth Street Financial Historic District. It is also listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury Library, and the main branch of the Treasury Department Federal Credit Union are housed in the building.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Freedman's Bank Building (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Freedman's Bank Building
Madison Place Northwest, Washington

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Latitude Longitude
N 38.898972222222 ° E -77.035222222222 °
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Address

448

Madison Place Northwest
20420 Washington
District of Columbia, United States
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Treasury Annex
Treasury Annex
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Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House

The Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House is a Federal-style house located at 21 Madison Place NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The house is on the northeast corner of Madison Place NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, directly across the street from the White House and the Treasury Building. Built in 1828 by Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, son of Colonel John Tayloe III (who built the famous Octagon House), the house became a salon for politically powerful people in the federal government. Phoebe Tayloe inherited the house upon Tayloe's death in 1868. After she died in 1881, more than 200 marble statues, bronze sculptures, fine furniture, and paintings in the house were donated to the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Phoebe Warren Tayloe's niece, Elizabeth H. Price, inherited the house in 1882 and later sold it to Senator Don Cameron of Pennsylvania for $60,000 in 1887. In around 1896, the U.S. Senate passed legislation which would have made the building the official residence of the Vice President of the United States, but the House of Representatives failed to act on the bill. Cameron leased the house to Vice President Garret Hobart from March 1897 until the fall of 1899 and the press and public nicknamed the house the "Historic Corner" and the "Cream White House" for the large number of politically important visitors and meetings held on the premises, with esteemed guests such as the International Boundary Commission and Prince Albert of Belgium. Hobart's failing health led the family to leave the Tayloe House in the fall of 1899 and Cameron then leased the home to Republican Senator Mark Hanna from January 1900 to 1902. Hanna's important political discussions of the moment with William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt over substantial breakfasts of corned beef hash and pancakes became famous. The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage leased the house in the fall of 1915, and made the building its headquarters for two years. The Cosmos Club had considered purchasing the house from the Tayloe family in 1885 and eventually bought it in December 1917. They vacated it in 1952 to move to their new headquarters; the building was purchased by the U.S. government and used for offices. From October 1958 until November 1961, the house was the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nearly razed to the ground in 1960 along with other buildings on Lafayette Square, successful lobbying and support from the newly elected Kennedy administration in 1961 led to the original proposals to gut the building being dropped. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was instrumental in persuading architect John Carl Warnecke, a friend of her husband, to create a design that would incorporate the new buildings with the old, based on the architectural theory of contextualism. The Cutts-Madison House, Cosmos Club building, and Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House were joined, and a courtyard built between them and the National Courts building. The building has remained part of the National Courts Building complex ever since, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

United States Department of the Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury

The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the U.S. Mint; these two agencies are responsible for printing all paper currency and coins, while the treasury executes its circulation in the domestic fiscal system. The USDT collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service; manages U.S. government debt instruments; licenses and supervises banks and thrift institutions; and advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of fiscal policy. The department is administered by the secretary of the treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. The treasurer of the United States has limited statutory duties, but advises the Secretary on various matters such as coinage and currency production. Signatures of both officials appear on all Federal Reserve notes.Established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue, the first secretary of the treasury was Alexander Hamilton, sworn into office on September 11. Hamilton was appointed by President George Washington on the recommendation of Robert Morris, Washington's first choice for the position, who had declined the appointment. Hamilton established the nation's early financial system and for several years was a major presence in Washington's administration. The office is thus customarily referred to as "Treasury", solely, without any preceding article, as a remnant of the country's transition from British to American English during the late 18th century. Hamilton's portrait appears on the obverse of the ten-dollar bill, while the Treasury Department building is depicted on the reverse. The current secretary of the treasury is Janet Yellen, who was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 25, 2021. Jovita Carranza, appointed on April 28, 2017, was the incumbent treasurer, until January 15, 2020, when she left the office.