1915 DCWashington a century ago
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The ceremonial core · 17 photographs

Seventeenth Street

The marble institutions south of the White House, where the Washington Naval Conference met in 1921.

A half-built marble building topped with wooden scaffolding towers and a crane
January 25, 1909 The Pan American Union building rises behind timber scaffolds and derricks in January 1909.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H25- 10138-A [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

History

South of the State, War and Navy Building, a row of white marble institutions went up along 17th Street around the turn of the century: the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1897), Memorial Continental Hall of the Daughters of the American Revolution (1904–1910), the Pan American Union Building (1908–1910) and the American Red Cross headquarters (1915–1917). On November 12, 1921 the Washington Naval Conference opened in Memorial Continental Hall.

What's there now

The buildings all stand. The Pan American Union is the headquarters of the Organization of American States, the Red Cross still occupies its building, and the DAR’s Memorial Continental Hall is part of its headquarters complex with Constitution Hall (1929).

Then and now

This is one of the least changed streetscapes in the city: the marble fronts are as they were, though 17th Street is now a busy road.

Photographs 17, oldest first

A pale two-storey mansion with a portico behind a bare lot
c. 1900–08 The Van Ness House at 17th Street and B Street, an early nineteenth-century mansion, shortly before it was demolished to make way for the Pan American Union.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 1605 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A half-built marble building topped with wooden scaffolding towers and a crane
January 25, 1909 The Pan American Union building rises behind timber scaffolds and derricks in January 1909.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H25- 10138-A [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A skylit atrium with marble statues and galleries above
c. 1905–15 The sculpture hall of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1905-1915.Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress · LC-D4-39790 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A white marble building with a columned portico
1912 Memorial Continental Hall, headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, from the southeast, 1912.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H261- 1145 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A tiled courtyard with tropical plants around a fountain
c. 1910–15 The patio and fountain inside the Pan American Union Building, about 1912.Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress · LC-D4-39986 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A white marble building with arched entrances behind lawns
c. 1910–20 The Pan American Union building, 1910s.Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress · LC-D4-72209 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A white marble building with a garden in front
1915 The front of the Pan American Union Building, 1915.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H261- 5115 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
An obelisk seen between tall columns
1915 The Washington Monument framed by the columns of the Pan American Union, 1915.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H261- 5279 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A theatre hall decorated with flags and garlands, full of people
c. 1914–18 A packed audience beneath flags and wreaths at an event in the DAR's auditorium on 17th Street, 1914-1918.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H261- 5833 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Rows of nurses in white marching past a columned building, crowds on both sides
1917 Red Cross nurses in white march past the columns of the new American Red Cross building at its dedication in 1917.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H261- 8718 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A tall plain brick house with a sign on a quiet street
c. 1918–20 The house at 616 17th Street that served as General Winfield Scott's headquarters, about 1919.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 1685 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A seated marble allegorical figure beside a building entrance
c. 1915–23 Gutzon Borglum's \"North America\" beside the entrance of the Pan American Union.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H27- A-723 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Women with protest placards standing before a marble building
1920 Pickets with placards outside the Pan American Union during the 15th International Congress against Alcoholism, 1920.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 9742 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Men with placards before a columned marble building with flags
November 15, 1921 Veterans of the World War picket the Washington Naval Conference at Memorial Continental Hall, November 15, 1921. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 16870 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Aerial view of white marble buildings among trees and the Washington Monument
c. 1921–22 From the air over the White House grounds toward the Washington Monument, with the Red Cross building and Memorial Continental Hall below, about 1921.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F82- 8210 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A night crowd standing outside a floodlit columned hall framed by leaves
August 14, 1924 A crowd gathers at night outside Memorial Continental Hall during the notification of President Coolidge's nomination, August 14, 1924.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F81- 31794 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A white marble statue against a memorial wall among shrubs
1931 The DAR Founders Memorial, a marble figure with outstretched arms, 1931.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H2- B-4936 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Nearby: State, War and Navy Building · The White House and Lafayette Square · The Washington Monument · The Treasury · The Lincoln Memorial