U.S. General Services Administration Cotton Annex and GSA Regional Office Building Parcel Washington, D.C. Cultural Resource Survey February 2015 CULTURAL RESOURCE SURVEY COTTON ANNEX PARCEL AND GSA REGIONAL OFFICE BUILDING PARCEL WASHINGTON, D.C. PREPARED FOR: GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 301 7TH STREET, SW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20407-0001 PREPARED BY: Charles LeeDecker, Patti Kuhn, Sarah Groesbeck, and Gregory Katz THE LOUIS BERGER GROUP, INC. 1250 23RD STREET, NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20037-1164 DRAFT FEBRUARY 2015 PUBLIC REPORT SUMMARY On behalf of the General Services Administration (GSA), The Louis Berger Group, Inc., completed a cultural resource survey for the Cotton Annex (CA) and the Regional Office Building (ROB) properties located in the Southwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The GSA has determined that the property is underutilized and plans to exchange it in accordance with a recent Presidential Directive that requires consolidation of federal property. The ROB was evaluated for eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and was determined by the keeper of the NRHP to be not eligible in March 2014. The CA was previously evaluated in September 2010 and determined eligible for the NRHP in the areas of Agriculture and Commerce under Criterion A. As a result of the current study, the building is also recommended as eligible under Criterion C for its architectural significance as an example of Stripped Classical federal architecture. Prior to disposal of the property, the GSA is completing an Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act to assess the impacts of the exchange. As part of the overall impact assessment, the GSA has sponsored this cultural resource survey to aid the process and fulfill the purposes of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966(NHPA), as amended. The CA and ROB parcels, along with much of Southwest D.C., are both within a colonial patent known as Cerne Abbey Manor, which was owned by Notley Young at the time of the founding of the City of Washington. During the creation of the new federal city, Young was persuaded to convey land within the city limits to the United States. From the land within the study area, Squares 326 (CA parcel) and 410 and 434 (ROB parcel) were formed. During the first half the nineteenth century, these squares remained largely undeveloped. During the 1850s, railroad tracks were laid along the Maryland Avenue right of way in an attempt to create a link between the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Alexandria and Washington Railroad across Long Bridge over the Potomac River in Virginia. Congressional disagreement over use of the tracks resulted in their disuse until the Civil War. During the war, the tracks were put to use by the government to ship materiel to troops in northern Virginia, resulting in the establishment of the Maryland Avenue Depot at the southwest corner of Maryland Avenue and 9th Street, SW by 1862. Once the depot was constructed, it was used to transport wounded soldiers to many of the makeshift hospitals that had sprung up in the city since the war began. The development of Square 434 began in the 1850s, but Squares 326 and 410 remained unimproved. At least a portion of the squares within the study area were used for “industrial” purposes by 1888, such as the lumber yards on Squares 326 and 410. Much of the new construction during this era, however, was of two- and three-story brick houses. Despite general views of this area of Southwest D.C. as industrial, it was mainly a residential area housing working class families, many of which were government employees. The idea of redeveloping the Southwest originated with the 1902 McMillan Commission, which envisioned and expanded the National Mall system including the area between Maryland Avenue and the Potomac River on its south and between Pennsylvania and New York avenues to the north. When the Public Buildings Act was passed in 1926, the government planned to develop the area south of the Mall and east of 14th Street with a federal warehouse and other government buildings. i The Treasury Department built the CA, also known as the Standardization Building in 1936-1937 to house the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Bureau of Economics. Formed in 1922, the Bureau of Economics combined USDA’s economic research and services activities into one agency. The new agency’s main objectives were to further the role of economics in understanding the U.S. food and agriculture system and to address price and income issues faced by farmers. Designed to house laboratory and office functions, the main portion of the building fronting 12th and C streets, SW. housed offices, while the rear wing contained storage and large, open laboratories. The development of cotton standards was one of the most important activities completed by the Bureau of Economics in the building from its opening until the mid-twentieth century. Thus, the cotton labs and warehouses occupied the majority of the building, resulting in its moniker “The Cotton Annex.” By mid-century, the Cotton Division’s presence grew smaller, and other divisions of the USDA moved into the space. By 2010, only a few offices for administrative staff of the Tobacco Division remained in the CA Building. The ROB was originally constructed as a federal warehouse in two phases because of lack of funds to complete the building in its entirety: the western half was erected in 1931-1932 and the eastern in 1934- 1935. The interior of the eastern section was devoted to office space for the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department. The building continued to be used by the Procurement Division until the passage of the Public Buildings Act of 1949, which established the GSA. Since many of the new agency’s services operated out of the building, it became GSA’s regional headquarters. The building was first modified in 1957-1959 with the conversion of warehouse floors to office space. In 1964, the building was extensively modernized to complete the conversion of the warehouse to an office building. An archeological study was conducted of the CA and ROB parcels. The study included computerized topographic analysis and the excavation of soil cores to examine site potential. Both parcels were found to have extensive grading associated with the previous site development. The parcels were determined to have low archeological potential. No sites are present on the study parcels. ii ABSTRACT On behalf of the General Services Administration (GSA), The Louis Berger Group, Inc., completed a cultural resource survey for the Cotton Annex (CA) and the Regional Office Building (ROB) properties, located in the Southwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The GSA has determined that the property is underutilized and plans to exchange it in accordance with a recent Presidential Directive that requires consolidation of excess federal property. As such, GSA is completing an Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act, along with Section 106 consultation pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended. The 1.38-acre CA property occupies Square 326, which was historically bounded by 11th, 12th, C, and D Streets, SW. The CA property includes the CA Building and adjacent open areas that are currently in use as surface parking. The ROB property includes Squares 410 and 434, as well as a portion of the C Street, SW right-of-way. The ROB itself occupies nearly the entire 3.4-acre parcel, except for a small parking lot/loading dock area on the north side of the building. The goal of this study is to identify NRHP-eligible historic resources within the project area and provide treatment recommendations to support the Section 106 process. An element of this study is a Phase IA archeological investigation designed to assess the archeological potential of the two properties, based primarily on archival research. As part of the archeological investigation, geoarcheological testing was conducted to assess the subsurface condition of the two properties with specific attention to the preservation of buried landscapes that might contain archeological resources. The GSA prepared a draft NRHP nomination for the CA in September 2010. The nomination form established the significance of the building under NRHP Criterion A in the areas of Agriculture and Commerce. The GSA has determined that the CA is also significant under Criterion C, for its architecture. The building, constructed under the Public Buildings Act of 1930, illustrates the continued use of the “Stripped Classicism” style preferred under the direction of Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon. The building, with its classically influenced proportions and details, along with its variegated yellow brick, reflects the earlier designs of the neighboring Central Heating Plant and the Department of Agriculture South building. The GSA completed an NRHP determination of eligibility (DOE) for the ROB in September 2013. The DOE concluded that, although the building meets NRHP Criteria A and C, the building is not eligible for the NRHP due to loss of integrity. This finding was reviewed by the Keeper of the NRHP who concurred with the determination on March 6, 2014. An archeological investigation has been conducted of both the CA and the ROB. No archeological sites were previously recorded at either property, and the investigation aimed to determine the presence or absence of significant sites in the study area. Determining the extent of urban landscape modification was key component of the investigation. At the CA, a geoarcheological investigation used a direct push geotechnical sampling machine at selected locations. The cores were inspected by a geomorphologist to identify intact historic landscapes. One soil core found marginally intact soils, but no sites were identified and the archeological potential of the setting was found to be low.