Speech

Possible Remarks (After earth turning) And so we have turned earth for our new building. From this earth will rise a building, as you can see from the model of it here, in harmony with the building the Federal Reserve Board has lived in since 1937, and with its other neighbors. This parking lot will become a green place, with fountains, trees and hospitable resting places for passersby. And most important of all -- to us -- from this earth we have turned will rise a building big enough to reunite the Federal Reserve Board family in one spot. The idea behind this new building has always been that of getting the Board's staff together in efficient quarters. It is an objective to which we, perhaps, are especially sensitive, because in the five and a half decades since the Federal Reserve System began work in 1914, the Board has had its .staff family together for only about half that time. We originally set up shop in the Treasury, where the Board first convened on August 10, 1914. The Board had with it at Treasury its legal and its secretarial staff. Others were scattered around Washington -- and, for a time, even New York City -- in rented quarters. But the * Treasury had its own space problems, and in 1933 the Board finally acceded to the Treasury's pleas to give up the Board's space there. The Board, and the staff it had with it, like the rest of the Board's staff, moved to rented rooms. -2- Seeing that we were now entirely without a home, the Congress in 1934 amended the Federal Reserve Act to let us put up our own building. The Board immediately purchased ground for the building south of C Street, and included in the purchase this block north of C Street. It was a wise thing to do, because by 1963 we were running out of space again, and our Staff family was again separated. Furthermore, technological changes have been transforming our work along with that of banking® These changes make necessary space for new kinds of equipment and new kinds of staff specialists, and our new building will have appro- priate accommodations. And there will be space for growth, if the Federal Reserve Board's work load continues to grow It has grown out of the bounds of e our present building in the space of the careers of men still active in the Board's'service. One such is Howard Hackley, whose name was on the list of staff striplings told off to answer the questions of guests at the dedication in 1937. Another is Fred Solomon, whose assignment that day -- perhaps because everyone wanted to get in to the ceremonies and he had a physique that later got him into the Marine Corps -- was a ticket taker. I will not try to describe everything that will be in this building of 800,000 square feet, added to the existing 214,000 square feet of space we have in the present building. Let me just say that the present inconvenience its construction causes to many of you -- of which we are keenly aware and which we are doing all we can to mitigate -- will -3- be repaid by the light modern offices you will work in, improved dining facilities, multi-purpose meeting rooms, other aids to your work such as projection and sound equipment, and the proximity of each of you to the Board and all of its staff. I note, with very real pleasure, in which I am certain all the other members of the Board and the staff present today join me, that former Governor Shepardson is with us. He bore for years the main burden of the preparatory work for this building, and it is in large part a tri- bute to his patience and persistence that we have arrived today at the construction stage. With us also is a man many of you have long known, and whose name the Board, by special resolution, decided this new Federal Reserve Board building should bear -- William McChesney Martin, Jr. I am not going to talk about him because I would not want to court eon a very modest guest. I will only say that Bill Martin not-Wfty served the Federal Reserve System longj^kutHiistorTCally well, and that t4*e—con- fidence inf-t^g ftf^H^t-h^ h h d -do in luutlit - much nd mak the strong foundation on which our work in this new building will stand. Now I am going to ask him to say a word or two. - 0- ^OFGOV^ BOARD OF GOVERNORS • F TH E FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM WASHINGTON. D. C. 20551 WILLIAM W.SHERRILL MEMBER OF THE BCD ARD April 1, 1971 TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE BOARD'S STAFF: Chairman Burns will preside at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Board's new annex building at 4:30 p.m., Monday, April 5, in the parking lot across C Street from the main Federal Reserve building. The annex will be named in honor of William McChesney Martin, Jr. , former chairman of the Board who will be guest of honor at the ceremony. Members of the Board's staff who are able to take the time are invited to attend the groundbreaking. The en- tire cerenfony is expected to last no more than 15 minutes. Actual work on the annex building is also scheduled to begin on April 5. William W. Sherrill (Rev. 3-63) BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE,FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM / 71 MEMO Date. Time. Chairman Burns To: From: FrClr- (O'Rrjpn. ^ Tel. No. Ext. Please call For your approval Returned your call For your information Will call again Note and return Phone me re attached For comments and suggestions See me re attached Preparation of reply MESSAGE: Mr. Chairman Here, at Charlie Molony's suggest- ion, is some fact background (gathered from the files and from Merritt Sherman)^ andja draft of a few remarks, for your use as notes in the groundbreaking on April 5. ^ ^^ 3/31/71 FO1B: f c NOTES FOR THE USE OF CHAIRMAN BURNS IN GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONIES AT 4:30 p.m. MONDAY, APRIL 5, 1971 Some underlying facts Before the Present Building The Federal Reserve Board first convened August 10, 1914 in quarters at the Treasury. The Board itself (and the Secretary's and Legal divisions) remained at the Treasury until 1933, when they went to rented quarters in the Washington Building (where the Board, Secretary's and Legal occupied some floors only). In the meantime other divisions of the Board had occupied other rented quarters in various buildings in Washington, D.C., and (from some time in 1918 to about 1922) Research was in New York, and the Bulletin was prepared there. In 1934, after the Treasury's needs for space had forced the Board out of Treasury, the Federal Reserve Act was amended to permit the Board to purchase land and build its own building upon it. Land was acquired (including the block north of C Street where the Wm. McC. Martin Tr, Building will stand) in 1934 at a cost of $754,583. Construction of the Present Building Ground was broken in February, 1936, the Board occupied its new building in August, 1937 and the building was dedicated by President Roosevelt on October 20, 1937. The construction of the building, by George A. Fuller Co., cost $3,484,000. It was designed to fit with the other marble buildings near it on Constitution Avenue and to be appropriate to its proximity to the Lincoln Memorial. The Commission on Fine Arts stated that "The nature of the work of the Board dictates an architectural concept of dignity and permanence11 and that this was to be achieved through "dignity of conception, purity of line, proportion and scale, rather than through decoration and monu- mental features.11 -2- A copy of Mr. Roosevelt's brief remarks (remarkably brief and cool considering that there had just been a stock market plunge) is attached. The diplomatic corps, the Supreme court, the Cabinet and others (some 2,320 in all) including the Board staff, were seated in the gallery above the great staircases, on the steps, and in the hallways below, and Mr. Roosevelt spoke from the gallery between the staircases (where the Chairman spoke at Christmas^ according to pictures of the event . Admission was by card only, and seats in the gallery above the stairs were reserved. Guests, however, were told they could tour the building after the event. Lists of the staff were told off, some to take tickets, and some to handle guests and answer questions. One young staffer who was listed as a ticket-taker (perhaps because he had a physique that later got him into the Marines) was Frederic Solomon. Another staff stripling, delegated from the General Counsel's office to "handle guests and answer questions," was Howard Hackley. Marriner S. Eccles was Chairman of the Board. Governors were M. S. Szymczak, John K. McKee, Ronald Ransom and Chester C. Davis. Among those attending were Senator Carter Glass and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. The New Building Cost - $33,283,000p A minutes of a Board meeting of 1/30/67 jj \ gave the projected cost as $13,330,000/ Builder - Chas. H. Tompkins Co., Washington, D. C. Size - 800,000 square feet Accommodations: Employees -- 600 to 700 Dining -- for Governors and Staff Meeting Rooms -- Several, one at top of building with rear projection, TV camera space, and sound recording.

Arthur F. Burns (1971, April 4). Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/speech_19710405_burns

@misc{wtfs_speech_19710405_burns,
  author = {Arthur F. Burns},
  title = {Speech},
  year = {1971},
  month = {Apr},
  howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
  url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/speech_19710405_burns},
  note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}