Harry S. Truman Building

The Harry S. Truman Building, as seen from The George Washington University's School of International Affairs
Building
Former names	Main State Building
Architectural style	Modern Movement Stripped Classicism[1]
Location	2201 C Street, NW Washington, D.C. United States
Owner	U.S. federal government
Current tenants	U.S. State Department
Coordinates	38°53′40″N 77°02′54″W / 38.8944°N 77.0484°W / 38.8944; -77.0484Coordinates: 38°53′40″N 77°02′54″W / 38.8944°N 77.0484°W / 38.8944; -77.0484
Construction
Started	1939
Completed	1941
Renovated	1960s, 2000s
Floor area	1,500,000 square feet (139,000 m2)
Architect	Louis A. Simon[1]
Other designers	William Dewey Foster Gilbert Stanley Underwood[1]

The Harry S. Truman Building is the headquarters of the United States Department of State. It is located in the national capital of Washington, D.C., and is the third-largest federal building in the D.C. metropolitan area, after The Pentagon and Ronald Reagan Building.

The Truman Building is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood at 2201 C Street, NW, bounded by C Street to the south, E Street, D Street, and Virginia Avenue to the north, 21st Street to the east, and 23rd Street to the west. It is located to the west of Edward J. Kelly Park and north of the National Academy of Sciences building and the National Mall.

The Truman Building houses the office of the United States Secretary of State, a post currently held by Hillary Rodham Clinton.^[2]

[edit] History

The building was constructed between 1939 and 1941^[3] to house the Department of War, now known as the Department of Defense. However, the Department of War never occupied the building since, by the time construction was complete, the Department had already outgrown the building. Instead, the structure was used for the Department of State.

East entrance to the Truman Building

A large addition was completed in the early 1960s, after which the original building was informally called "Old State" with the addition identified as "New State." Currently, more than 8,000 employees work in the Truman Building. The building houses over 1,500,000 square feet (139,000 m²) of usable space, the corridors take up over 267,000 square feet (24,800 m²), and the roof area is about 7 acres (28,000 m²). There are 43 elevators, over 4,000 windows, and about 34,000 fluorescent light fixtures that provide interior illumination.

In September 2000, the State Department building (previously called the Main State Building, and often called by metonymy "Foggy Bottom") was named in honor of President Harry S. Truman.^[4]

The building is currently being renovated under a 12 year plan to modernize the structure.^[3]

[edit] See also

• Herbert C. Hoover Building
• Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
• Treasury Building
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Administration Building

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harry S. Truman Building

• United States Department of State official website
• Entertaining Spaces of the Secretary of State Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State