Walk Like an Egyptian
6 11 2007The GAO headquarters building was dedicated on September 11, 1951. by President Harry S. Truman. In his speech at the dedication, the President talked about the perception by government officials that GAO was “a bugaboo that keeps them from doing what they want to do”. Dispite what people still think of what goes on inside the building, it is the exterior that really grabbed our attention.
The entrance on G Street looks like a semi-modern Egyptian motif. The style is actually called Art Moderne or Late Depression Modern. It is similar to the stylized Art Deco design popularized in the 1920s, but is somewhat more austere and streamlined. The lst floor elevator lobbies in GAO’s building reflect Art Moderne style in the use of stylized lotus motifs and the repetitive groupings of horizontal lines and geometric shapes.
Architecture is always a mater of personal taste, but we love this building, compared to a lot of the other plain concrete government buildings this one has real character!
Egyptian looking bas-reliefs after the jump…
for a full history check http://www.gao.gov/about/history/thepresident.html
[…] exciting treasure hunt! Many of the greatest details are on government buildings which we have discussed in the past, but the districts public high school are also a virtual cornucopia for the architecturally […]