Eisenhower Executive Office Building
- Also Known As: Old Executive Office Building
- Originally: State, War and Navy Building
- Address: Pennsylvania Ave NW
- Vicinity: 17th St NW
- Neighborhood of Downtown DC in Washington, DC
| Y/M/D | Person | Association | Description | Composition | Food | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y/M/D | Person | Association | Description | Composition | Food | Event |
| 1871/00/00 | Hamilton Fish | Secretary of State | Hamilton Fish persuades Congress to provide $500,000 and specify that the new strucuter counterbalance Mill's recently completed Treasury Building. Fish also persuades Alfred Mullett to design the building in the French Renaissance style. | |||
| 1871/06/21 | Construction begins on the South Wing which is to be offices for the State Department. It will be ready for occupancy by December 1875. | |||||
| 1872/00/00 | Construction on The East Wing for the Navy begins. It will be finshed in 1879. | |||||
| 1875/00/00 | Charles Albion Langley | Construction Worker | Charles A Langley takes a job during the construction East Wing. Langley will work here until it is completed in 1879. | |||
| 1879/00/00 | The North Wing of the State, War and Navy Building, for the War Department, is started after demolition of Old War building. It will be completed in 1882. | |||||
| 1884/00/00 | The West and Center Wings of the State, War, and Navy Building are begun in after demolition of Old Navy. | |||||
| 1888/03/01 | Alfred B Mullett | Architect | After an expenditure of $10,038,482. the State War and Navy Building was fully occupied. It is probably the first Federal building to have an elevator designed for it before construction and 6,000 gas jets illuminate the building. | |||
| 1897/04/16 | Theodore Roosevelt | Work | President McKinley appoints Theodore Roosevelt as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt supports Alfred Thayer Mahan's theory that the US needs a modern navy to protect its growing interests around the world. | |||
| 1898/05/15 | Theodore Roosevelt | US Officer | Theodore Roosevelt resigns his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, leaves Washington and joins Colonel Leonard Wood's First US Volunteer Cavalry, known as the Rough Riders. | Spanish-American War | ||
| 1902/01/29 | Andrew Carnegie | Benefactor | Carnegie presents his deed of gift to the board members of his new science institution, Carnegie Institute of Washington, at the diplomatic room at the United States Department of State in Washington, DC. | Andrew Carnegie's Science Institute | ||
| 1913/03/17 | Franklin D Roosevelt | Work | Franklin Delano Roosevelt is confirmed as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Confirmed unanimously by the Senate, Roosevelt is the youngest Assistant Secretary of the Navy. | |||
| 1917/06/00 | Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd | Work | Lucy Mercer leaves her position with Eleanor Roosevelt and enlist in the US Navy. Mercer is assigned to work for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D Roosevelt. | Marriage of Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt | ||
| 1930/01/00 | Herbert Hoover | Work | President Herbert Hoover occupies the Secretary of the Navy's office for a few months following a fire in the Oval Office on Christmas Eve 1929. | |||
| 1955/01/19 | Dwight D Eisenhower | US President | In the Old Executive Office Building's Indian Treaty Room (Room 474), United States President Eisenhower holds the first televised US Presidential news conference. | Invention of Television |
| Particulars for Eisenhower Executive Office Building: | |
|---|---|
| Area of Significance | Architecture |
| Criteria | Architecture-Engineering |
| Sight Category | Building |
| Criteria | Exemplar |
| Owner | Federal |
| Architectural Style | French Renaissance Revival |
| Historic Use | Government Office |
| Architectural Style | Late 19th and 20th century revivals |
| Area of Significance | Military |
| Level of Significance | National |
| Area of Significance | Politics-government |
| Architectural Style | Second Empire |
The Old Executive Office Building, now renamed the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, is a National Historic Landmark, that was built between 1871 and 1888. Designed by Alfred B. Mullet in the Second Empire Style, the building first housed the Departments of State, War, and Navy. Much of the interior was designed by Richard Von Ezdorf using fireproof cast-iron structural and decorative elements. The building became seen as inefficient and was nearly demolished in 1957. Since 1981, major renovations have been carried out including the development of a comprehensive preservation program and the formulation of a master plan for the building's continued adaptive use. The building continues to house various agencies that comprise the Executive Office of the President, such as the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Security Council.
Many celebrated national figures have participated in the historical events that have taken place within the building's granite walls. Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, and George Bush all had offices in this building before becoming President. It has housed 16 Secretaries of the Navy, 21 Secretaries of War, and 24 Secretaries of State. Winston Churchill once walked its corridors and Japanese emissaries met here with Secretary of State Cordell Hull after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. President Herbert Hoover occupied the Secretary of Navy's office for a few months following a fire in the Oval Office on Christmas Eve, 1929. In recent history Richard Nixon had a private office here during his presidency. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first in a succession of Vice Presidents to the present day that have had offices in the building. The Old Executive Office Building is next to the White House and can be viewed from the street. - NPS
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