Appointed Rounds 300 BLOCK 12TH STREET NW
The imposing Ariel Rios Building at the center of the Federal Triangle opened in 1934 to house the U.S. Post Office Department, then among the nation’s largest non-military employers. Architect William A. Delano, of the New York firm Delano and Aldrich, drew inspiration from Paris and other European cities to design the building’s unusual hourglass plan. The curved building, with its ground- level arcade and Parisian-inspired slate mansard roof, was intended to face a circular court spanning 12th Street. The plan, however, required demolition of the Old Post Office, which never occurred. Postal service dates to 1775, when the Continental Congress, representing the 13 colonies, appointed Benjamin Franklin the first postmaster general. The ability of colonial military commanders to communicate by mail gave them an advantage over the British during the Revolution. In the new nation, postal service furthered democracy and economic growth by linking elected representatives with their constituents and businesses with their customers. Although the Post Office Department became the U.S. Postal Service in 1971 and moved from the Federal Triangle, the building’s plentiful inscriptions, sculptures, bas-reliefs, and evocative interior murals preserve its stories and mission of binding the nation together. The embellishments also remind viewers of the thousands of laborers, artists, and craftsmen who found much-needed work here during the Great Depression (1929-1941). This building was later occupied by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and renamed to honor Special Agent Ariel Rios, who was killed in the line of duty. It now houses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters.
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