[10] Willoughby J. Edbrooke, Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, designed the structure in the tradition of the Romanesque Revival architecture of Henry Hobson Richardson.

[10] The structure featured elevators with cages of highly intricate wrought iron,[18] a glass covered atrium and mezzanine level, and floors, moldings, railings, and wainscoting made of marble.

Heyburn's plan retained the architecturally dominating Post Office Building of 1899 with its commanding tower, but adjusted its Pennsylvania Avenue side to be parallel with the street.

[27] In 1914, the District of Columbia's General Post Office moved to a larger Beaux Arts / Classical Revival building constructed next to recently completed Union Station of similar impressive style, taking advantage of heavy use of the national railroad system for speedier mail delivery.

[33] Planning for the complex was deeply influenced by the City Beautiful movement and the idea of creating a civic center to achieve efficiency in administration as well as reinforce the public's perception of government as authoritative and permanent.

[52] The National Capital Planning Commission, a federal agency with legal jurisdiction over major building projects in the Washington metropolitan area, agreed (although it said the tower might be preserved).

[80][81][82][83][84] Starting in 1984, replicas of the latest versions of the "Love" stamp were lowered from the spire of the Old Post Office Building's Clock Tower around midnight during each New Year's Eve.

[88][90] However, after the celebration marking the beginning of 1986 had ended, clean-up crews found a strangled and raped 18-year-old woman dead in a stairwell 100 yards away from an indoor stage at which Cab Calloway had earlier performed.

Old Post Office Joint Venture (OPOJV) received $166,000 a year in rent from GSA, but its agreement with the federal government called for doubling the size of the retail space to 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2).

As construction occurred, the Old Post Office Pavilion lost many of its high-end retailers and replaced them with low-end shops selling mugs, souvenirs, T-shirts, and other items aimed at tourists.

[98] The bank hired Hill Partners, a real estate management firm from Charlotte, North Carolina, to revitalize the retail aspects of the development.

Operations there had never turned a profit in 17 years, the vacancy rate in the Pavilion was 80 percent, the East Atrium was closed, and GSA had stopped charging Wells Fargo rent because no income was being generated.

[102] In 2002, lobbyist Jack Abramoff engaged in extensive illegal discussions with GSA chief of staff David Safavian an attempt to secure the lease on the structure for a Native American tribal client.

This effort, too, was unsuccessful, even though the East Atrium had broken floor tiles and unfinished interior construction that exposed beams and left gaping holes instead of storefronts.

The plan was supported by the United States Commission of Fine Arts, the federal agency with legislative authority to approve the aesthetic design of all major buildings in the D.C. metropolitan area.

The National Capital Framework specifically asked that the Old Post Office Building be renovated in order to improve public amenities and support the ongoing revitalization of Pennsylvania Avenue.

[118] Douglas Firstenberg, a principal with StonebridgeCarras, a real estate property management firm that helped the federal government lease buildings, said that historic preservation restrictions and the large number of existing tenants made redevelopment difficult.

[126] Trump dismissed concerns that he lacked experience with historic buildings, pointing to his redevelopment of Grand Central Terminal in New York City and the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

[124][125] Robert Peck, Commissioner of the GSA's Public Building Service, defended the selection, arguing that the Trump/Colony Capital bid was by far the best in terms of financial commitment, experience in renovating and managing properties, and quality of design.

[133] The bidding group, which included Hilton Worldwide, said GSA failed to take into account Trump's repeated bankruptcies and unrealistic economic assumptions.

David Orowitz, the Vice President for Acquisitions and Development in The Trump Organization, said that the denial of tax waiver was not a surprise and would not change the financial calculations of the company's bid.

Historic preservation agencies refused to allow various types of canopies or signs bearing the hotel's name along Pennsylvania Avenue, and six alternative designs for the East Atrium were rejected out of hand by the CFA.

[130][149][150] To allay concerns by critics that he too often defaulted on developments, Trump agreed to provide a $40 million personal guaranty as well as a "bad acts" (to cover failure to pay taxes, fraud, or other forms of misconduct).

Each presidential suite would have a working fireplace, sauna, steam room, walk-in closet, direct-access elevators, and views of Pennsylvania Avenue NW and the National Mall.

The Trump Organization said it would remove the ahistoric glass and steel ground floor storefront on the C Street side and expand and renovate the public plaza there by adding outdoor seating and a performance space.

In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that individual members of Congress lacked standing to bring action against the President where they sought declaratory and injunctive relief for alleged violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause.

[188] President Donald Trump responded to the emolument clause allegations by outlining a plan where payments from foreign guests would be paid into the U.S. Treasury and to the GSA contract issues by placing his holdings into a trust directed by his children.

"[190] In February 2017, Senators Tom Carper and Claire McCaskill (the Democratic ranking members of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and its Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, respectively) wrote a letter to the GSA inspector general, writing: "Since President Trump took the oath of office, the Trump Old Post Office, LLC appears to be in breach of the plain language of the lease agreement."

[192] In January 2019, GSA General Counsel Jack St. John agreed with the single recommendation from Carol F. Ochoa's 47-page report in which the President's business interest in the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office building might constitute a violation of the emoluments clause and this might cause a breach of the lease.

[196][197] In 2021, the Trump Organization agreed to sell the lease on the building for $375 million to the investment firm CGI Merchant Group, which planned to rebrand the hotel as a Waldorf Astoria.