As Secretary of the Interior from 1877 to 1881 under President Rutherford B. Hayes, Carl Schurz's office was located in the Patent Office Building that takes up the entire block bounded by 7th and 8th streets and F and G Streets, NW. Today, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum are housed in the building.
In 1877, around the beginning of Schurz's tenure, a fire destroyed the third floor and attic of the west and north wings. The renovations to the building were carried out by fellow German-Americans Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze. Certainly Cluss and Schurz would have known each other well since both were actively involved in the failed 1848 revolution in Germany and both were politically active and wrote for newspapers.
As part of the renovation work, Caspar Buberl, the Bohemian-born artist known chiefly for his work on the Pension Building created the relief panels on the north wall (allegories of Fire, Electricity and Magnetism, and Water), on the south wall (Agriculture, Industry and Invention, and Mining), and roundel portraits of American inventors (Franklin, Jefferson, Robert Fulton, and Eli Whitney) in the Patent Building's model hall.
Before becoming a member of the Cabinet, Schurz already knew Washington well, his first visit here having taken place in early Spring 1854, when he found the city "rather dismal." Read Schurz's description. In 1865-1866, just after the Civil War, Schurz was a reporter for the New York Tribune, whose Washington Office was located at "470 14th Street West" according to the 1866 City Directory. This was before Washington's street numbering system changed in 1869. The corresponding address became 515 14th St NW. The building is no longer standing.
Elected US Senator from Missouri in November 1868, Carl Schurz took office in March 1869 and moved back to Washington. In 1872, he lived at 1349 L Street NW and in 1874, the City Directory lists him as living at 826 14th Street NW. Neither building remains standing today.
While Secretary of the Interior, Schurz resided at 1719 H St NW, in a house that no longer exists.
Carl Schurz remains an important figure in Germany still today. In Liblar, Schurz's home town, just a few miles from Cologne, stands the castle where the future revolutionary and German-American journalist and statesman was born in 1829. The town's "Carl-Schurz-Kreis" has collected many materials about its most famous son. Not surprisingly, the town's school is named after him today. Bonn, the Federal Republic of Germany's first capital, also boasts a major local school with Schurz's name: the Carl-Schurz-Realschule, located at Albertus-Magnus-Str. 21. More about Schurz is available from a number of websites.
Carl Schurz died in New York in 1906.
In 1877, around the beginning of Schurz's tenure, a fire destroyed the third floor and attic of the west and north wings. The renovations to the building were carried out by fellow German-Americans Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze. Certainly Cluss and Schurz would have known each other well since both were actively involved in the failed 1848 revolution in Germany and both were politically active and wrote for newspapers.
As part of the renovation work, Caspar Buberl, the Bohemian-born artist known chiefly for his work on the Pension Building created the relief panels on the north wall (allegories of Fire, Electricity and Magnetism, and Water), on the south wall (Agriculture, Industry and Invention, and Mining), and roundel portraits of American inventors (Franklin, Jefferson, Robert Fulton, and Eli Whitney) in the Patent Building's model hall.
Before becoming a member of the Cabinet, Schurz already knew Washington well, his first visit here having taken place in early Spring 1854, when he found the city "rather dismal." Read Schurz's description. In 1865-1866, just after the Civil War, Schurz was a reporter for the New York Tribune, whose Washington Office was located at "470 14th Street West" according to the 1866 City Directory. This was before Washington's street numbering system changed in 1869. The corresponding address became 515 14th St NW. The building is no longer standing.
Elected US Senator from Missouri in November 1868, Carl Schurz took office in March 1869 and moved back to Washington. In 1872, he lived at 1349 L Street NW and in 1874, the City Directory lists him as living at 826 14th Street NW. Neither building remains standing today.
While Secretary of the Interior, Schurz resided at 1719 H St NW, in a house that no longer exists.
Carl Schurz remains an important figure in Germany still today. In Liblar, Schurz's home town, just a few miles from Cologne, stands the castle where the future revolutionary and German-American journalist and statesman was born in 1829. The town's "Carl-Schurz-Kreis" has collected many materials about its most famous son. Not surprisingly, the town's school is named after him today. Bonn, the Federal Republic of Germany's first capital, also boasts a major local school with Schurz's name: the Carl-Schurz-Realschule, located at Albertus-Magnus-Str. 21. More about Schurz is available from a number of websites.
Carl Schurz died in New York in 1906.
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