Financial Historic District Nomination
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NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: Financial Historic District (Amendment and Boundary Increase) Other names/site number: ______________________________________ Name of related multiple property listing: ___________________________________________________________ (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: _15th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue on the south to K Street on the north to 14th and G Streets on the east___________________________________________ City or town: ____________ State: ____________ County: ____________ Not For Publication: Vicinity: ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property _X__ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide _X__local Applicable National Register Criteria: _X__A ___B _X__C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Financial Historic District (Amendment) Washington, D.C. Name of Property County and State In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: X X Public – Local X X Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) X X X District X X Site Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Financial Historic District (Amendment) Washington, D.C. Name of Property County and State Structure Object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing ____36_________ ______2_______ buildings _____________ _____________ sites _____________ _____________ structures _____________ _____________ objects _____36________ ______2________ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register __33_______ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) COMMERCE/TRADE/Office Building/Financial Institution/Specialty Store______ SOCIAL/Clubhouse_________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) _COMMERCE/TRADE/Office Building/Financial Institution/Specialty Store_______ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Sections 1-6 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Financial Historic District (Amendment) Washington, D.C. Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) _20th CENTURY AMERICAN MOVEMENTS/Classical Revival/Stripped Classical/Renaissance Revival/Commercial Style/Gothic Revival__________________ _MODERN__________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: _Brick and Limestone________________ Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph The Financial Historic District is an amended nomination to the Fifteenth Street Financial Historic District listed in the National Register in 2006.1 This nomination offers modified boundaries that extend beyond the linearly defined 15th Street Historic District and that better reflect the city’s financial nodes as they evolved from the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. As described in the 1984/2006 nomination, the Fifteenth Street Financial Historic District was designated principally for its cohesive array of monumental Beaux Arts-style buildings constructed by the city’s thriving financial industry along 15th Street between Pennsylvania Avenue on the south and I Street on the north. The listed district includes 20 buildings2 that are linked aesthetically by proximity to the U.S. Treasury Building and are 1 The 15th Street Financial Historic District was determined eligible for listing in the National Register in 1984, but due to owner objection it was not listed. Over the course of two decades, the Historic Preservation Office worked with the owners to have them lift their objections, and in 2006 the 15th Street Financial Historic District was listed. 2 When the National Register Nomination for the Fifteenth Street Financial Historic District was prepared in 1984, the district included 22 buildings as noted in the nomination. By the time that the historic district was actually designated in 2006, two of the twenty-two buildings had been demolished (Rhodes Tavern and 1510 H Street NW). As it stands today, there are 20 buildings within the boundaries of the Fifteenth Street Financial Historic District (NR listing, 2006). Section 8 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Financial Historic District (Amendment) Washington, D.C. Name of Property County and State notable both individually and as an ensemble of 20th-century Beaux Arts Classicism. As described in the 1984/2006 nomination, the district is monumental in feeling, symbolically expressing the solidarity and pride of the leading financial institutions in the District of Columbia during the first decades of the twentieth century. This amended nomination, which adds 18 buildings to the historic district, maintains the visual unity of the designated Fifteenth Street Historic District yet also gives a more accurate and complete picture of the city’s financial history. The expanded district is broader in both its physical boundaries and historic context and better reflects the variety and growth of the city’s financial industry from the 19th century to the mid-20th century. As indicated by its amended name—the Financial Historic District—the boundaries are no longer limited to the buildings along 15th Street, but include two other important collections of financially related buildings, namely those at the intersection of 14th and G Streets and those around McPherson Square. The new boundaries remain the same on the southern end, but reach further east along G Street to 14th Street, and further north along 15th Street to the north side of K Street, north of McPherson Square. On the east, the district has been increased to include an important clustering of 20th-century office and bank buildings at the intersection of 14th and G Streets, including the exuberant Colorado and Bond office buildings, two of the first Beaux Arts office buildings in downtown, and three important commercial bank buildings. The district extends further north beyond I Street