The construction of the Treasury Building just east of the White House played a significant role in the financial district's development.

Many of the buildings on 15th Street were constructed in the Beaux-Arts style, inspired by the City Beautiful movement of the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Those represented in the historic district include local architects Jules Henri de Sibour, Appleton P. Clark Jr., Waddy Butler Wood, George S. Cooper, Mihran Mesrobian, Paul J. Pelz, George Oakley Totten Jr., and B. Stanley Simmons.

Architects from other parts of the country that designed buildings in the historic district include James H. Windrim, Bruce Price, York and Sawyer, Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker, Cass Gilbert, and Carrère and Hastings, amongst others.

It then heads south on Vermont Avenue, crossing K Street, and going behind property lines facing McPherson Square.

It runs behind the properties facing 15th Street and crosses New York Avenue behind the National Savings and Trust Company.

[3] The boundary then runs west, south of the statue of Alexander Hamilton, until reaching Executive Avenue beside the White House.

[3] The financial history of the historic district began in 1799 when the first U.S. Treasury building was constructed on 15th Street NW, east of the White House.

The building was constructed across the street from Rhodes' Tavern, erected in 1799 and home to the Bank of the Metropolis, which moved one block north in 1836.

The gradual transition of 15th Street NW to a financial district occurred in the 19th century, mostly due to the Treasury Building and banks desiring to be near it.

The final expansion of the Treasury Building, the north wing, was designed by Alfred B. Mullett and completed in 1869.

The building became the central feature of the city's banking industry and represents the first phase of the financial district's growth.

The National Savings and Trust Company, designed by James H. Windrim in 1888, is an example of Queen Anne style architecture and one of the most imposing buildings in the historic district.

[5] The next imposing financial building that opened at the intersection of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW was the headquarters of Riggs National Bank.

[6] After the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, the City Beautiful movement began, and Beaux-Arts architecture became a popular style throughout the country, especially in Washington, D.C.

Banks had a desire to build imposing, grand headquarters and branches to display their financial success, and Beaux-Arts was seen as the grandest style of the time.

The Southern Building, designed by D. H. Burnham & Company in the Renaissance Revival style, features terra cotta details.

[2][3] The Denrike Building, designed by Appleton P. Clark Jr., is a Gothic Revival property in the financial district and was completed in 1926.

[8] In the late 1970s and 1980s, a dispute occurred between historic preservationists and real estate developers that wanted to demolish Rhodes Tavern, then the oldest commercial building in downtown Washington, D.C. A court ruled in 1980 that the tavern could be demolished to make way for a $75 million mixed-use project called Metropolitan Square.

[11][12] The building was demolished in September 1984 after the D.C. Court of Appeals lifted an injunction that prevented local officials from razing Rhodes Tavern.