May 23, 1927, at which time it considered a plan to create a single building ringing Federal Triangle rather than six to eight individual structures. In June 1927, Ayres and the other consultants approved construction of the Department of Commerce and Internal Revenue Service structures as stand-alone buildings on the previously proposed sites. A month later, Ayres and the other Board members proposed constructing eight buildings, connected by plazas, semi-circular colonnades, and other architectural and landscaping elements. The Department of Commerce building was set on the west side of 15th Street NW between B and D Streets NW. For the architectural style of the buildings, Ayres and the other Board members relied heavily on recommendation of the 1902 McMillan Plan that federal buildings in the District of Columbia be built in the Neoclassical style. Both the Board and Treasury Secretary Mellon rejected the Modern style then heavily in vogue. Rather than a mass of tall, imposing buildings, two unifying open spaces (intended for ceremonial use, and under discussion by the Board at least by March 1928) would be utilized. The first would be a Circular Plaza (inspired by the Place Vendôme) bisected by 12th Street NW, and which would require the demolition of the Old Post Office Pavilion. The second would be a rectangular Grand Plaza on the east side of 14th Street NW between the proposed Department of Commerce building (west side of 14th Street NW) and the proposed Post Office Department building (east side of 13th Street NW). The construction of the Grand Plaza would have required the demolition of the District Building. York and Sawyer was commissioned to design the Commerce building. This choice had been made almost 15 years earlier, oddly enough. A new headquarters for the Department of Commerce had been proposed in 1912 and a contract for the design work awarded to the architectural firm of York and Sawyer. Although this building was never built, Congress honored the contract and in the Public Buildings Act named the firm again as the Commerce building's designer. York and Sawyer put Louis Ayres in charge of the building's design. But not all design choices were left up to Ayres. By March 1927, government officials had already decided that the Commerce building should be long—making it the then-largest building in the District of Columbia. Work on the building site was expected to begin by March 31, 1927. Survey