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.ÿþproponents of academic classicism 235Although the first section of the Treasury Annex building coveredonly the southern third of the block diagonal from the White House,it was originally intended to cover the entire frontage along MadisonPlace.This section was designed with a view to enlargement.By anact of Congress in 1917 that provided funds for the Treasury Annex,the secretary of the treasury was authorized to secure special archi-tectural and expert services. Architect Cass Gilbert was selected todesign the building in a style in harmony architecturally with theWhite House and the Treasury.116That the Treasury Annex was designed according to the dictatesof the McMillan Plan was testimony to the power of that document.In a discussion among senators regarding the Treasury Annex,Senator Frank Bosworth Brandegee of Connecticut argued that todesign a building with no artistic finish at all across from theTreasury Building a building described as the finest example ofpure Grecian art in the country would be a public calamity. Healso noted that on the block facing the Treasury Building, several newbank buildings recently had been constructed, all buildings of artis-tic merit, with fine granite columns, and all buildings, I have nodoubt, designed with some respect and some attention to the oldTreasury Building. The alternative to the Treasury Annex was an ordinary office building. 117McAdoo s selection of Gilbert as architect and his interest in main-taining the spirit of the McMillan Plan won him praise from the aia.As the organization s own Journal noted:Deliberately, and with conviction, Secretary McAdoo built ac-cording to the Plan of Washington, having in his mind, as hehimself expressed it, the adoption of a logical and continuousbuilding program, not only for the adequate housing of all De-partments, but also the harmonious development of Washing-ton. For McAdoo s turnaround on the matter of public architecture, itwas written whereas he was blind to aesthetic values, he came to seehow deep and genuine and reasonable was the interest of the peopleof the United States in the proper development of their capital.Froma persecutor of the saints he became their chief apostle. 118The acclaim that accompanied the selection of Cass Gibert to de-sign the Treasury Annex underscored the wild swings in editorialopinion on the part of private architects.Their views of Treasury
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