At the corner of 15^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue look to the east, towards 14^th Street.

The building with mansard roofs and round Oeil de Boeuf (Bull’s Eye) windows is the post-modern Willard Office Building, built in 1986.  Beyond it is its inspiration – the ornate, storied Willard Intercontinental Hotel, the Residence of Presidents.

Its history and architecture speak of influence and elegance. Since the 1850s it’s been a Washington social hub, a place to be and be seen, and gracious host to a steady stream of the rich and famous – presidents and princes, dignitaries and business tycoons, actors and writers.

On the north plaza of the Treasury Building, just around the corner of 15^th at Pennsylvania Avenue, stands the bronze statue of Albert Gallatin, the second and longest serving Secretary of the Treasury.  Appointed by Thomas Jefferson in 1801, Gallatin was kept on by James Madison, until he resigned in 1814.

Like the Alexander Hamilton statue on the south plaza, this elegant rendering of Albert Gallatin is by sculptor James Earle Fraser. Both are beautiful.  Each figure is similarly attired in the dress of gentlemen of their day – knee breeches, ruffled fichu at the neck, vest, dramatic cloak.

A short walk west from the north entrance to the Treasury Building on the pedestrian-only segment of Pennsylvania Avenue is the main entrance of the White House – the front of the building with the most recognized address in America: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

While not as approachable-looking as the graceful South Façade (Site #9), the classic, carefully proportioned North façade gives the Executive Mansion an aura of stability. It offers a dignified and quietly welcoming front entrance to the President’s House.

Lafayette Park, interchangeably referred to by its old name, Lafayette Square, is a 7-acre green space north of the White House across Pennsylvania Avenue.  It’s a nice place to walk, with five historically interesting, dramatically unique and artistically complex statues to see.

Enter the park from the center of the south side (Pennsylvania Ave.)  You can’t miss the two large 5 feet high, 4 feet wide fronze urns on top of tall pedestals.  These are the Navy Yard Urns, named for the place they were cast in 1872, the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington.

In the center of Lafayette Square stands the first equestrian statue cast in the United States – the statue of Major General Andrew Jackson, later the 7^th president of the United States.

He is seen here on a rearing horse with his hat raised in salute to his troops during the Battle of New Orleans in January 8, 1815, a major America victory over the British in the War of 1812.

Jackson became a hero in the Battle of New Orleans. This major British defeat restored America’s national pride badly battered after the embarrassment of August 1814, when the British entered Washington unchecked, and torched the White House.

On the northwest side of the Jackson statue, there’s an ordinary-looking park bench. It comes with a nice story.  The “Park Bench Statesman” sat here.

Bernard Mannes Baruch made his fortune on Wall Street by the turn of the 20^th century – at the age of 30.  Known for his financial acumen and thoughtful insight, he was an advisor to several presidents. The presidential connection, spanning three wars – WWI, WWII and the Korean War – began with his friendship with Woodrow Wilson, and continued through Harding, Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.  During Roosevelt’s New Deal, he helped shape policy as a member of Roosevelt’s “Brain Trust.”

Walk to the northwest corner of the park. The cloaked, pensive looking man atop the tall pedestal is the great Prussian general and brilliant military trainer, General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben.

The grand composition by sculptor Albert Jaegers is one of four memorials in Lafayette Park honoring foreign generals who came to the aid of the American revolutionary cause, without whom it may have been doomed.

In the early stages of the Revolutionary War, a major challenge faced by General George Washington was how to create an army out of “citizen soldiers” – recruits and volunteers straight from farms and small towns. With no training and little discipline, they were no match for the highly trained and disciplined British regulars.

From the von Steuben memorial, back-track to the southwest corner of the park to the dramatic bronze memorial to French General Comte Jean de Rochambeau by sculptor J.J. Fernand Hamar.

From atop the granite pedestal General de Rochambeau, dressed in the uniform of a major general of the Continental Army, decisively commands his troops, the Royal French Expeditionary Force, who came to the aid of America in 1780.