150 Years

USDA Jamie L. Whitten Building

The USDA is 151 years old, with the Department housed in the Jamie L. Whitten Building on the Capital Mall at 1400 Independence Ave., S.W. near the Smithsonian Metro entrance. The USDA headquarters is the only non-Smithsonian building on the Mall. The original USDA building is long gone, as are the experimental research plots - but with the addition of the People's Garden display, there is a little bit of

Central staircase

second-half of the 19th Century retro at play here. Construction of newer existing building was begun in 1904. There is a circular staircase from the main foyer area to the second floor. While ascending the stairs and looking up, you can see a mural painted on the wall to the above right.  I don't know the history of the painting - I will have to do some digging to find out about it. There are no records available on-line as far as I can find- more later.

The mural by Gilbert White

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A little bit more looking at Wikipedia entry about the Whitten Building, and there was mention of Gilbert White as the artist of the mural. The link to his short biography is found here. A little more information from GSA found here. A sample of his painting ability is shown below, found at the Web link here. Another posting for a mural in Oklahoma can be found here - a tribute to 2,735 soldiers from the state who died in World War I.

Afternoon Tea