Existing comment:
Under Construction: 1902-1908:
Planning for the new District building began with a design competition. The selection committee included Captain Chester Harding, who would supervise the construction, and the architect Daniel Burnham of the Chicago firm Burnham and Root.
Architectural plans specified a classic design in the manner of the English Renaissance. The winning design, by the Philadelphia firm Cope & Stewardson, was for a six-story Beaux Arts building faced in marble and granite. Adolph De Nesti of Italy designed the exterior.
In recommending the design, the committee stated, "The amount appropriated is evidently inadequate to secure the construction... unless the exterior walls are of plain brick and the interior finish is that of a factory." The controversy led to an increase on March 3, 1903, of a half million dollars in the appropriation.
The James J. Parson Company Washington began construction on June 17, 1902. About 4,000 piles of granite capstones, leveled into the clay and gravel soil that was once the Tiber Creek bed, support the foundation. Concrete layers and waterproofing above the piles support the building and prevent water penetration. The total construction cost reached $2.5 million.
An Italian Master, a Local Assistant:
The Wilson Building's exterior statuary is the work of Adolfo De Nesti (1870-1935) of Florence. Ernest C. Bartow, an architectural sculptor who had a studio in the District, assisted him.
From east to west, the statues on the front facade represent:
- Sculpture (a male figure holding a mallet and carved tablet)
- Painting (a female figure with a palette)
- Architecture (a male figure with an Ionic capital)
- Music (a female figure with a harp)
- Commerce (a female figure with a winged globe and a shield adorned with a ship)
- Engineering (a male figure with a surveying instrument)
- Agriculture (a female figure with fruits of the field)
- Statesmanship (a male figure in a Roman toga, with an eagle)
Chronology:
1909:
The Statue of Governor Alexander Robert Shepherd (1825-1902), a DC native, is unveiled in front of the District (Wilson) Building (May 3). Until 2005, when a statue of DC native John Philip Sousa was unveiled near the Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill, Shepherd's statue was the only one of a DC native anywhere in the nation's capital.
1920:
Memorial sculpture honoring DC government employees who died in World War I is unveiled in memorial ceremony by Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of President Woodrow Wilson. The marble memorial is the work of Jerome Connor and depicts a dying soldier (April 6).
1921:
Oil portrait of District of Columbia Governor Alexander Robert Shepherd is hung in the Boardroom (Council Chamber) of the District (Wilson) Building. Shepherd's widow, Mary Young Shepherd, officially presents the portrait to be displayed in the seat of government during a ceremony (April 21). The portrait remained in the Chamber until about 1970. |