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The Treasury Building is a United States government-owned building in Washington, D.C. that houses the United States Department of the Treasury. Constructed over a 33-year period, from 1836 to 1869, it is a National Historic Landmark.

Predecessors
The original Treasury Building, built near the site where the current structure sits, was the first government facility constructed in Washington, D.C. and housed nearly half of the entire workforce of the U.S. federal government at the time the national capital was relocated from Philadelphia to Washington in 1800. Two stories tall, with a basement and attic, it had 31 rooms. A fire in 1801 nearly destroyed the building. In response, a new fireproof vault addition was constructed between 1805 to 1806. During the War of 1812 the Treasury Building was destroyed by the British Army and, following the war, Department of the Treasury personnel relocated to temporary offices in buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue while awaiting construction of a new facility.

A second Treasury Building was finished in 1817. On March 30, 1833, this new building was also destroyed when Richard H. White set fire to it in an attempt to destroy incriminating records. A design competition for a replacement facility was won by Robert Mills who was, subsequently, appointed to oversee construction of the new building.

Design and construction
Ground broke on the third, and current, Treasury Building on September 7, 1836. Owing to the destruction of its two predecessors, the new Treasury Building was designed to be XXXX. By 1842 construction on the two "Mills" wings had been completed.

By the early 1850s, a need for additional space prompted the construction of the south and west wings. This marked the first time wrought iron had been used in the building of a U.S. government building. Due to a lack of funds, work was largely suspended in 1858. At this time the south wing had been substantially finished, while the west wing would not be completed until 1864.

Civil War
After the Battle of Fort Sumter in 1861, there was concern that an attack on Washington was imminent. Gen. Winfield Scott had the Treasury Building readied to be used as a "last stand" by the federal government in the event the capital city was overrun. The exterior of the building was ringed with sandbags and soldiers and, inside, corridors and hallways leading to the underground vaults were barricaded "floor to ceiling". In the event of an unstoppable assault against the capital, plans had been drawn up for surviving U.S. Army forces to fight from three centers of final resistance with the Treasury Building as the "citadel" of the third. Under the army's plans, troops assigned to defend the White House would fight a delaying action in President's Park to cover the evacuation of Abraham Lincoln into the Treasury vaults.

Following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, President Andrew Johnson used the Treasury Building as the presidential offices for two months, as the White House was still occupied by Mary Todd Lincoln.

Restoration
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