Keeping It Green

Keeping It Green. Make No Little Plans. , The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the youngest agency housed here in the Federal Triangle. Established as an independent agency in 1970, EPA protects human health and the environment through science, transparency, and the rule of law., This building, designed by San Francisco architect Arthur Brown, Jr., originally housed the Interstate Commerce Commission, which regulated transportation of goods between the states. Like its Federal Triangle neighbors, the building was richly finished inside with limestone and marble ornamented with decorative paintings and carvings. Adorning the pediment behind you is Wheeler Williams's Commerce and Communications, dominated by the messenger Mercury leaning against his steed while being blown through the clouds. An American eagle perches majestically over his shoulder. Just ahead is Interstate Transportation by Edward McCartan, its nude female reclining on a seahorse amid dolphins symbolizing the energy of interstate transportation., To showcase the EPA's presence in the complex, these buildings were rehabilitated between 1994 and 2001 by the U.S. General Services Administration in partnership with EPA. While adhering to strict historic preservation standards, the renovation introduced 21st-century green design innovations such as recycled building materials, low-emission paints, energy-saving lighting and mechanical systems, low-flow water fixtures and supplementary rainwater cisterns., The EPA buildings overlook Constitution Avenue, the path of the old Washington Canal. Conceived by city designer Pierre L'Enfant and designed by architect Benjamin Latrobe, the canal made Tiber Creek into a navigable waterway connecting the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. Barges transported materials to build the new city via the canal. Eventually, though, the canal became an open sewer. It was paved over in the 1870s.