Completing the Triangle 200 BLOCK 14TH STREET NW
the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, named to honor the 40th president, filled the last open space in the Federal Triangle. When former First Lady Nancy Reagan dedicated it in 1998, the redevelopment of this part of Pennsylvania Avenue, begun by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, was complete. This is the only Federal Triangle building to house both private and government offices, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Customs Service. James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, New York, designed its limestone exterior as a modern re-working of the neoclassical style of its neighbors. The structure’s 3.1 million square feet of space make it the second-largest federal office building. Only the Pentagon is larger. The public is encouraged to explore the soaring atrium, food court, and exhibits located inside this building. The Reagan Building houses an unusual artifact of the Cold War era. In 1987 President Ronald Reagan made a speech at the Berlin Wall in West Berlin. “Mr. Gorbachev,” he challenged the Soviet Union’s leader, “tear down this wall!” Two years later the wall came down, reflecting the end of Soviet domination and reuniting Germany. A section of the wall, the gift to America of grateful Berliners, may be seen inside. On the 14th Street plaza of the Reagan Building is a memorial to diplomat and former Secretary of Labor and Commerce Oscar S. Straus (1850-1926). Appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, Straus was the first Jewish American cabinet member. The privately funded memorial features two cast- bronze sculptures by Adolph Weinman: Liberty of Worship and The Voice of Reason .
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