Keeping It Green 1200 BLOCK CONSTITUTION AVENUE NW
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the youngest agency housed in the Federal Triangle. Established as an independent agency in 1970, EPA protects human health and the environment through science, transparency, and the rule of law. This building, designed by San Francisco architect Arthur Brown, Jr., originally housed the Interstate Commerce Commission, which regulated transportation of goods between the states. Like its Federal Triangle neighbors, the building was richly finished inside with limestone and marble ornamented with decorative paintings and carvings. Adorning the pediment on the east end of the building is Interstate Transportation by Edward McCartan, its nude female reclining on a seahorse amid dolphins symbolizing the energy of interstate transportation. On the west end, Wheeler Williams’s Commerce and Communications is dominated by the messenger Mercury leaning against his steed while being blown through the clouds. An American eagle perches majestically over his shoulder. To showcase EPA’s presence in the complex, these buildings were rehabilitated between 1994 and 2001 by the U.S. General Services Administration and the EPA. While adhering to strict historic preservation standards, the renovations introduced 21st-century green design innovations. The buildings overlook Constitution Avenue, the path of the old Washington Canal. Conceived by city designer Pierre L’Enfant and designed by architect Benjamin Latrobe, the canal transformed Tiber Creek into a navigable waterway connecting the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. At first it carried barges of building materials for the new city but eventually became an open sewer. It was paved over in the 1870s.
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