Butler Building | |
---|---|
General information | |
Address | 3 B Street, SE |
Town or city | Washington, D.C. |
Coordinates | 38°53′14″N77°00′31″W / 38.8873°N 77.0085°W |
Named for | Benjamin Franklin Butler |
Completed | 1874 |
Demolished | 1929 |
Technical details | |
Material | Cape Ann granite, brick |
The Butler Building was a mansion in Washington, D.C., constructed by Benjamin Franklin Butler. It served as the headquarters of the U.S. Marine Hospital Service and its successor, the Public Health Service, from 1891 until 1929. It also contained a purpose-built fireproof unit to store archives of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. It was demolished in 1929 to construct the Longworth House Office Building.
The building contained three units, one specifically constructed as a fireproof storage space. [1] The other two were built as residences, and later were converted to office space. [2] It was directly to the south of the United States Capitol, across what is now Independence Avenue. [3]
It was constructed of granite from Cape Ann, Massachusetts. [1] It had brick partition walls and a deep foundation sitting 30 ft (9.1 m) below the street line. In 1888, it had 37 rooms. The residential units had hardwood finishing, parquet oak floors, and frescos on most walls and ceilings. The stairways and corridors included wainscot paneling. [4] There were also artistic chandeliers and fireplaces. [2] The fireproof unit had iron doors and window shutters, with wood used sparingly. [4]
The building was built as the home of Massachusetts Congressman and former Union general Benjamin Franklin Butler [2] [3] [5] in 1873–1874. [1] Butler had purchased the land at auction to develop it. As the land was directly north of the Richards Building, the headquarters of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, its superintendent requested that a portion of the building be constructed to be fireproof so that it could be rented as storage for valuable and irreplaceable survey records, maps, and engraving plates. After its construction, Butler said, "it is certified to be the best fireproof structure that has ever been erected in this city, or I think in any other". [6]
The building was used by President Chester A. Arthur while the White House was being refurnished, [3] [7] in a unit rented at the time by Senator John P. Jones. [7]
In 1888, the building was considered for purchase by the government for Congressional offices. [4] On April 10, 1891, the Department of the Treasury purchased the building from Butler for $275,000. [1] That year, the Marine Hospital Service moved its headquarters from a building at 1308 F Street NW. [8] It occupied the unit facing north onto B Street towards the Capitol. The Coast and Geodetic Survey occupied the other two units to its south, including the previously rented archives unit, with the second unit used for a library and offices. [1]
The Marine Hospital Service's Hygienic Laboratory, the predecessor of the National Institutes of Health, also moved to the building from the New York Marine Hospital in 1891. [3] It occupied the top floor of the building. In March 1904, the Hygienic Laboratory moved to a new building at the Old Naval Observatory. [5]
In 1912, the Marine Hospital Service became the Public Health Service. [5] Some of the building's interior ornamentation was removed in the early 1910s. [2]
The Public Health Service moved out of the building in April 1929. [3] Temporary Building C on the National Mall, where it had offices since 1920, became its temporary headquarters until the new Public Health Service Building opened in May 1933. [8] The Coast and Geodetic Survey moved to the Department of Commerce Building also in 1929. [9] The Butler Building was then demolished to construct the Longworth House Office Building. Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming attempted to have the mantles and mirrors stored for use in a future building but was unsuccessful as the items were lost. [3]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. The agency is part of the United States Department of Commerce and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.
St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The hospital opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States.
The United States has eight federal uniformed services that commission officers as defined by Title 10 and subsequently structured and organized by Titles 10, 14, 32, 33, and 42 of the U.S. Code.
The United States Public Health Service is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant Secretary for Health oversees the PHS. The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) is the federal uniformed service of the PHS, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps is one of eight federal uniformed services of the United States, and operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a scientific agency overseen by the Department of Commerce. The NOAA Corps is made up of scientifically and technically trained officers. The NOAA Corps and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps are the only U.S. uniformed services that consist only of commissioned officers, with no enlisted or warrant officer ranks. The NOAA Corps' primary mission is to monitor oceanic conditions, support major waterways, and monitor atmospheric conditions.
The Cannon House Office Building, often called the "Old House Office Building", completed in 1908, is the oldest office building of the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. A significant example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, it occupies a site south of the United States Capitol bounded by Independence Avenue, First Street, New Jersey Avenue, and C Street S.E. In 1962 the building was named for former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Joseph Gurney Cannon.
John Brown Hamilton was an American physician and soldier. He was appointed the second Surgeon General of the United States from 1879 to 1891.
Walter Wyman was an American physician and soldier. He was appointed the third Surgeon General of the United States from 1891 until his death in 1911.
Hugh Smith Cumming was an U.S. physician and soldier. He served as the fifth Surgeon General of the United States from 1920 to 1936.
The Longworth House Office Building (LHOB) is one of five office buildings used by the United States House of Representatives. The building is located south of the Capitol, bounded by Independence Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, C Street S.E., and South Capitol Street, in southeast Washington. It has a floor area of 599,675 square feet (55,711.6 m2) and has a total of 251 congressional offices and suites, five large committee rooms, seven small committee rooms, and a large assembly room now used by the Ways and Means Committee.
The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It existed from 1807 to 1970, and throughout its history was responsible for mapping and charting the coast of the United States, and later the coasts of U.S. territories. In 1871, it gained the additional responsibility of surveying the interior of the United States and geodesy became a more important part of its work, leading to it being renamed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878.
USC&GS A. D. Bache (1901-1927), often referred to only as Bache, continued the name of the Bache of 1871 and has been confused, including in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, with that ship even though an entirely new hull and boiler were built in 1901 and only the name and some machinery and instruments were transferred to the new hull. The Bache of 1901 was transferred to the U.S. Navy for World War I service between 24 September 1917 through 21 June 1919 when she was returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
The United States Hydrographic Office (USHO) prepared and published maps, charts, and nautical books required in navigation. The office was established by an act of 21 June 1866 as part of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of the Navy. It was transferred to the Department of Defense on 10 August 1949. The office was abolished on 10 July 1962, replaced by the Naval Oceanographic Office.
USC&GS George S. Blake, in service 1874–1905, is, with the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross, one of only two US oceanographic vessels with her name inscribed in the façade of the Oceanographic Museum, Monaco due to her being "the most innovative oceanographic vessel of the Nineteenth Century" with development of deep ocean exploration through introduction of steel cable for sounding, dredging and deep anchoring and data collection for the "first truly modern bathymetric map of a deep sea area."
USC&GS A. D. Bache, the second steamer of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, was named for Alexander Dallas Bache, a former superintendent of the Survey. She was launched in August 1871 at Wilmington, Delaware, and was in commission from 1871 to 1900.
The first USC&GS Explorer was a steamer that served as a survey ship in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1904 to 1939 except for a brief time in United States Navy service from 1918 to 1919 for patrol duty in Alaskan waters as USS Explorer during World War I. After initial service along the United States East Coast and off Puerto Rico, the ship transferred to Seattle, Washington in 1907 to begin survey work in Alaskan waters during summer and more southern waters along the United States West Coast in winter. On her return from the Navy in 1919, the ship was condemned and due to be sold but instead was retained as a survey vessel into the fall of 1939. After a stint with the National Youth Administration from 1939 to 1941, she saw service during World War II with the United States Army Corps of Engineers as the freight and supply ship Atkins.
The second USC&GS Explorer was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1940 to 1968. She operated in the Pacific Ocean from 1940 to 1960, seeing service there during World War II, and in the Atlantic Ocean from 1960 to 1968.
The Richards Building was the headquarters of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1871 to 1929. It was located in Washington, D.C., on a block immediately south of the United States Capitol. It was demolished in 1929 to construct the Longworth House Office Building.
The U.S. government constructed a number of temporary buildings on the National Mall during World War I and II which stood from 1918 until 1971. They were built due to the urgent need for office space during wartime, but they remained in use during peacetime even though they disrupted the intended layout of the mall according to the McMillan Plan for over half a century.
Two buildings in Pittsburgh were known as the United States Marine Hospital. They were part of the U.S. Marine Hospital system, which was run by the Marine Hospital Service and its successor the Public Health Service, primarily for the benefit of the civilian merchant marine. The original hospital was located in Allegheny City and was used as a Marine Hospital during 1851–1875, after which it was sold. It was demolished in the late 1880s for construction of the Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge.