Old Post Office
Clock Tower

From the Old Post Office clock tower you get a grant view of Pennsylvania Avenue. The FBI Building is at the bottom left of the picture. The Capitol Building is at the top.

Old Post Office History

Once derisively known as "The Old Tooth" the Old Post Office Tower has graced Pennsylvania Avenue for more than a century.

Originally built to house the US Postal Service and the local city post office, the Old Post Office is the third tallest building in Washington and the city's first modern skyscraper. Only the Washington Monument and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception are larger.

Twice in its long history, once in the 1930s and again in the 1960s, the building was slated for demolition. Lack of funds saved the building the first time while the second attempt placed the Old Post Office building squarely in the middle of the emerging debate over what to do with historic old structures that had seemingly passed their prime.

Following an intensive lobbying effort by local citizens and Nancy Hanks, second chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Congress passed legislation in 1976 which for the first time allowed both government agencies and commercial enterprises to share federally-owned buildings.

Following five years of renovation the Old Post Office reopened in 1983. Today the facility houses federal offices, shops, restaurants and a stage for the performing arts. Visitors to the Old Post Office can also take an elevator to the tower where they have a magnificent view of the city and where they can see the ten massive bells given to the U.S. Congress in 1976 by the Ditchley Foundation of England.