Editing Federal Triangle (section)

===1928===
By March 1928, newspapers had reported that the Commerce and Internal Revenue buildings would be constructed first, followed by the Archives, then Justice, and then a newly added Post Office building.<ref name="Speers" /><ref name="MellonTells" /> Plans continued for the demolition of the District Building and [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] headquarters (although the latter would be the last to be razed, as it would be used as temporary office space for displaced federal workers).<ref name="Speers" /> Although the Commerce building plans (a {{convert|1051|ft|m|adj=mid|-long|disp=sqbr}} building with {{convert|1000000|sqft|m2|disp=sqbr}} of office space, the largest office building in the world) had stabilized by March 1928,<ref name="HooverHails">"Hoover Hails Our National Projects." ''New York Times.'' June 11, 1929.</ref><ref name="Speers" /><ref name="McCormick" /> some designers suggested that both 15th and 14th Streets NW be submerged in tunnels beneath the structure.<ref name="Speers" /> About the same time, the Internal Revenue building's square footage was reduced by almost a quarter to 500,000 square feet (46,500 square metres).<ref name="Speers" /> In July, Congress appropriated $210,000 for design work for the Independent Offices, Interstate Commerce, Justice, and Labor buildings, and Secretary Mellon altered the work schedule yet again to focus on these structures.<ref>"Mellon to Start Plans for 4 More Federal Buildings." ''Washington Post.'' July 11, 1928.</ref> The Board of Architectural Consultants met to consider ways in which the construction program might be sped up, and devised plans to have four approved buildings (Commerce, Internal Revenue, Justice and Labor) completed by 1932.<ref>"Federal Building Program Expected to Be Speeded Up." ''Washington Post.'' July 16, 1928; "Five Mall Buildings To Be Ready by 1932." ''Washington Post.'' July 24, 1928.</ref> By October 1928, the Board of Architectural Consultants had agreed with prior decisions that no office building should be constructed on the National Mall, and that this space should be reserved for museums.<ref name="MellonTells" />

Plans for the eastern apex of Federal Triangle, however, were complicated by an ongoing effort to create a George Washington Memorial.  A George Washington Memorial Association was organized in 1898 to establish in the District of Columbia a university bearing Washington's name.<ref name="GWMemorial">[http://siarchives.si.edu/findingaids/FARU7471.htm "George Washington Memorial Association, Records, 1890–1922." Record Unit 7471. Finding Aids to Personal Papers and Special Collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Smithsonian Institution.]</ref> Efforts to do so were unsuccessful, but in 1904 the Association signed an agreement with D.C.-based [[George Washington University|Columbian University]] to change its name to George Washington University and build a large memorial hall on the university's campus.<ref name="GWMemorial" /><ref>"Now George Washington University." ''New York Times.'' February 23, 1905.</ref> Plans for the memorial hall did not move forward, however, so the Association joined with the [[Smithsonian Institution]] to build a similar structure on the former site of the [[Baltimore and Potomac Railroad]]'s Pennsylvania Station.<ref name="GWMemorial" /><ref name="Erected">"$2,000,000 Auditorium to Be Erected as George Washington Memorial." ''New York Times.'' May 10, 1914.</ref> A design competition was held in 1914, and architects chosen.<ref name="Erected" /> The cornerstone was laid in 1921,<ref>"Harding Sees Ideals in Washington Will." ''New York Times.'' November 15, 1921.</ref> and some of the foundation and a marble stairway built on a plot of land across B Street NW (where the [[National Gallery of Art]] sits today) in 1924.<ref name="Dinginess">"Present Building Program to Wipe Out Dinginess of Mall." ''Washington Post.'' December 6, 1927.</ref><ref name="GWMemorial" /> In 1929, even as the Federal Triangle project was moving forward, the George Washington Memorial Association was conducting fund-raising for the construction of the building at the proposed National Archives site.<ref>"New Washington Memorial Appeal." ''New York Times.'' February 17, 1929.</ref> Press reports, however, indicated that the building had already been displaced from the Apex building site.<ref name="McCormick" /> The fund-raising effort eventually failed, and the foundation and stairs were razed in 1937 to make way for the National Gallery of Art.<ref name="GWMemorial" />