In 1987, the director of NOAA wanted a giant world map on his office wall. As a graphics contractor for NOAA, my team and I had to get a custom-made 72" x 180" sheet of 1/4" plexiglass up to his office to cover the map so he could draw on it with dry-erase markers. We couldn't cut the plexi.

It was too big for the old stairways, too big for the elevators, so the building manager had the elevator stop on the floor below, shoehorned the plexi diagonally into the shaft, and had me stand on top of the elevator car holding the sheet as we went up four or five floors.

Scary!!!

It is still there, one of the most magnificent portions of the Federal Triangle, and still looks the same--except for the traffic on Constitution Avenue, especially when there is a valet parking event at the Mellon Auditorium (formerly the Interdepartmental Auditorium.) The Labor Department moved out around 1970 and is in the Perkins Building at 3rd and Constitution at the foot of Capitol Hill. The ICC was abolished in the 80s and the building is now occupied by the EPA, which moved out of mangy quarters in Southwest DC into these grand ones.

...as the source of the photos in the last few seconds of that fine video.

Thanks for letting me know about it.

Many thanks to J W Wright for posting that Vimeo link.
What fantastic work, to animate these classic images!
Every bit as good as the beautiful colorizations that have been created.

Not one of the images of Washington. D.C., we carry in our heads. It emphasizes how much the capital echoes the look of imperial Rome.

The very new-looking car is a 1938 Studebaker President coupe (not that sure of the model), so presumably in the Fall when the new cars came out.

This is the exact spot where my wife and I stood when we paid our last respects to President Reagan during his funeral cortege down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol.

Shorpyites might enjoy this video, I think it's fascinating; it could even warrant its own post:

“The Old New World” by photographer and animator Alexey Zakharov of Moscow, Russia. Zakharov found old photos of US cities from the early 1900s and brought them to life.