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Hubert H. Humphrey Building
The Hubert H. Humphrey Building (originally the South Portal Building) is an eight-story office building at 200 Independence Avenue SW in Southwest Washington, D.C., United States. Owned by the U.S. federal government, it was built by the General Services Administration as the headquarters of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). It was completed in 1977 and designed by Marcel Breuer in the brutalist style. The building is one of two that Breuer designed for the U.S. federal government in the District of Columbia, along with the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building sits above a sewage line, the Third Street highway tunnel, and adjoining air ducts. Planning for a generic federal structure on the site began in the mid-1960s, and HEW secretary Wilbur J. Cohen decided to move the department's executive offices there. Construction began in May 1972 after several changes to plans. The Hubert H. Humphrey Building was dedicated on November 1, 1977, in honor of former U.S. Vice President and sitting U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey. After the HEW's education component was given to the newly created United States Department of Education in 1979, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continued to occupy the structure.
The Humphrey Building is set back significantly from Independence Avenue, and there is a large concrete plaza outside. The lowest two floors are set back from the upper stories, which are suspended from steel trusses above. The facade is composed of travertine, along with cast-in-place and precast concrete. The ground floor contains spaces including a lobby, exhibition space, and an auditorium. There are additional amenity areas on the second floor, along with three basements. The interiors are broken up by the main support columns and three cores, which contain elevators and other essential infrastructure. The third through seventh stories are mostly identical in layout, except for the sixth floor, which has the HHS secretary's suite. The interior walls were prefabricated with infrastructure such as wiring and piping. Meeting, office, and dining facilities occupy the penthouse level of the building, which is surrounded by a balcony. Commentary of the design has been mixed.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Building is located at 200 Independence Avenue SW in the Southwest Federal Center neighborhood of Southwest Washington, D.C., United States. It occupies a 1.25-acre (0.51 ha) site bounded clockwise from the north by Independence Avenue and 2nd, C, and 3rd streets SW. The structure faces the National Mall, a landscaped park, directly to the north. The adjacent blocks include the United States Botanic Garden to the northeast, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial to the east, the O'Neill House Office Building to the south, the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building to the southwest, the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building to the west, and the National Museum of the American Indian to the northwest. It is located near the Washington Metro's Federal Center SW station.
The Humphrey Building is placed above a major sewage line, the Third Street highway tunnel, and air ducts that serve the tunnel. As such, the building essentially functions like a bridge above the sewer and tunnel, which run under two-thirds of the site. The sewer and tunnel run diagonally under the site, in contrast to the Frances Perkins Building at the Third Street Tunnel's northern end, where the highway runs parallel to that building. The building's plaza also incorporates grilles from the tunnel, and the building itself had to include ventilation towers. The design was further constrained because, while the ducts had to rise at least 60 feet (18 m), any structure on the site had a height restriction of 90 feet (27 m).
During the 19th century, the surrounding area had been isolated from the rest of D.C. by the Washington City Canal to the north. After the canal was infilled in the 1870s, the Humphrey Building's site was developed with houses and tolley depots. The northeast corner of the site was cut off by Canal Street, which ran diagonally to the District of Columbia's street grid. When Independence Avenue and C Street SW were widened in 1941, the site assumed its final pentagonal shape.
In 1946, the United States Congress had passed the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act, which established the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency and provided for clearance of land and redevelopment funds in the capital. After a decade of discussion, public comment, and negotiations with landowners and developers, the Southwest Urban Renewal Plan was approved in November 1956. In part, the plan cleared the way for General Services Administration (GSA) to build new large federal office buildings between Independence Avenue SW and Southeast Freeway, along with mid-rise apartment buildings in the same area.
The Humphrey Building was the last of six federal office buildings built as part of the Southwest redevelopment, in part due to issues regarding its site and tenant. By the 1960s, the Third Street Tunnel was being built under the National Mall, but its construction was repeatedly delayed. To alleviate opposition to the tunnel's existence, the Humphrey Building was supposed to be built atop the tunnel's south portal; the United States Department of Labor building would be built at the north portal. The south portal site was intended as the headquarters of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). The agency, which at the time occupied a site near the United States Capitol, had grown substantially in scope as a result of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society initiatives.
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Hubert H. Humphrey Building
The Hubert H. Humphrey Building (originally the South Portal Building) is an eight-story office building at 200 Independence Avenue SW in Southwest Washington, D.C., United States. Owned by the U.S. federal government, it was built by the General Services Administration as the headquarters of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). It was completed in 1977 and designed by Marcel Breuer in the brutalist style. The building is one of two that Breuer designed for the U.S. federal government in the District of Columbia, along with the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building sits above a sewage line, the Third Street highway tunnel, and adjoining air ducts. Planning for a generic federal structure on the site began in the mid-1960s, and HEW secretary Wilbur J. Cohen decided to move the department's executive offices there. Construction began in May 1972 after several changes to plans. The Hubert H. Humphrey Building was dedicated on November 1, 1977, in honor of former U.S. Vice President and sitting U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey. After the HEW's education component was given to the newly created United States Department of Education in 1979, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continued to occupy the structure.
The Humphrey Building is set back significantly from Independence Avenue, and there is a large concrete plaza outside. The lowest two floors are set back from the upper stories, which are suspended from steel trusses above. The facade is composed of travertine, along with cast-in-place and precast concrete. The ground floor contains spaces including a lobby, exhibition space, and an auditorium. There are additional amenity areas on the second floor, along with three basements. The interiors are broken up by the main support columns and three cores, which contain elevators and other essential infrastructure. The third through seventh stories are mostly identical in layout, except for the sixth floor, which has the HHS secretary's suite. The interior walls were prefabricated with infrastructure such as wiring and piping. Meeting, office, and dining facilities occupy the penthouse level of the building, which is surrounded by a balcony. Commentary of the design has been mixed.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Building is located at 200 Independence Avenue SW in the Southwest Federal Center neighborhood of Southwest Washington, D.C., United States. It occupies a 1.25-acre (0.51 ha) site bounded clockwise from the north by Independence Avenue and 2nd, C, and 3rd streets SW. The structure faces the National Mall, a landscaped park, directly to the north. The adjacent blocks include the United States Botanic Garden to the northeast, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial to the east, the O'Neill House Office Building to the south, the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building to the southwest, the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building to the west, and the National Museum of the American Indian to the northwest. It is located near the Washington Metro's Federal Center SW station.
The Humphrey Building is placed above a major sewage line, the Third Street highway tunnel, and air ducts that serve the tunnel. As such, the building essentially functions like a bridge above the sewer and tunnel, which run under two-thirds of the site. The sewer and tunnel run diagonally under the site, in contrast to the Frances Perkins Building at the Third Street Tunnel's northern end, where the highway runs parallel to that building. The building's plaza also incorporates grilles from the tunnel, and the building itself had to include ventilation towers. The design was further constrained because, while the ducts had to rise at least 60 feet (18 m), any structure on the site had a height restriction of 90 feet (27 m).
During the 19th century, the surrounding area had been isolated from the rest of D.C. by the Washington City Canal to the north. After the canal was infilled in the 1870s, the Humphrey Building's site was developed with houses and tolley depots. The northeast corner of the site was cut off by Canal Street, which ran diagonally to the District of Columbia's street grid. When Independence Avenue and C Street SW were widened in 1941, the site assumed its final pentagonal shape.
In 1946, the United States Congress had passed the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act, which established the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency and provided for clearance of land and redevelopment funds in the capital. After a decade of discussion, public comment, and negotiations with landowners and developers, the Southwest Urban Renewal Plan was approved in November 1956. In part, the plan cleared the way for General Services Administration (GSA) to build new large federal office buildings between Independence Avenue SW and Southeast Freeway, along with mid-rise apartment buildings in the same area.
The Humphrey Building was the last of six federal office buildings built as part of the Southwest redevelopment, in part due to issues regarding its site and tenant. By the 1960s, the Third Street Tunnel was being built under the National Mall, but its construction was repeatedly delayed. To alleviate opposition to the tunnel's existence, the Humphrey Building was supposed to be built atop the tunnel's south portal; the United States Department of Labor building would be built at the north portal. The south portal site was intended as the headquarters of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). The agency, which at the time occupied a site near the United States Capitol, had grown substantially in scope as a result of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society initiatives.