Building the Dream: The Original Architects
In 1899, architects Edward York and Philip Sawyer began work on the Riggs Bank building at 1503 Pennsylvania Avenue, just steps from the US Treasury building and the White House. A few years later, the same architects would design the American Security and Trust Company building at 1501 Pennsylvania Avenue. The prominent buildings were some of the first designs for their just-established architecture firm York & Sawyer.
The architects, both in their mid-thirties, had met a few years earlier at another architecture firm in New York before deciding to branch out on their own by taking a commission at Vassar College in New York. The story goes that they earned that commission by lowballing costs in order to underbid their competition and meet John D. Rockefeller’s desired price point. Regardless of how they won the commission, the resulting building, Rockefeller Hall, still stands as a landmark on the Vassar campus.
The Vassar commission set them on a path of designing institutions along the East Coast. The majority of York & Sawyer buildings are banks, colleges, and hospitals, many of which are designed in the Classical Revival style. This style is characterized by its classical features and ornamentation on clean, modern lines. A number of York & Sawyer’s Classical Revival buildings still stand in New York City, including the Brooklyn Trust Company and Federal Reserve of New York buildings.
The grand Classical Revival style aligned with the vision for updating the design of central Washington, DC. In the late 1890s, a city beautification plan process had begun, with the intent to expand DC’s downtown green space into what is now the National Mall while maintaining the wide, European-style boulevards. During this period of change and beautification, York & Sawyer’s designs helped shape the changing downtown landscape. After their work on the Riggs Bank and American Security & Trust Buildings, they served as architectural consultants for the US Treasury, which is located directly across from their elegant bank halls at 1501 and 1503 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Edward York and Philip Sawyer continued to work together at their firm until York’s death in 1928. Sawyer continued to grow the firm in the decades before his own death in 1949. Over the years, York & Sawyer completed projects in Hawaii, Japan, Montreal, and Michigan, in addition to their many contributions along the East Coast. Many of their buildings still stand as fixtures in their respective cities and towns, and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream is proud to restore two of their buildings as part of our home.