Eisenhower Executive Office Building

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB), formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB), and originally known as the State, War, and Navy Building (SWAN Building), is a United States government building that is now part of the White House compound in the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. The building houses various agencies that comprise the Executive Office of the President, such as the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Council. Opened in 1888, the building was renamed in 1999 in honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th U.S. president and a five-star U.S. Army general who was Allied forces commander during World War II.

The building is located on 17th Street NW, between Pennsylvania Avenue and State Place and West Executive Drive. It was commissioned by President Ulysses S. Grant, and built between 1871 and 1888 on the site of the original 1800 War/State/Navy Building and the White House stables, in the French Second Empire style.

As its original name suggests, it was initially built to house the staff of three government cabinet departments. The building's elaborate architectural style received substantial criticism when it was first completed; it has since been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The first executive offices were constructed between 1799 and 1820 on the former site of the Washington Jockey Club, flanking the White House. In 1869, following the Civil War, Congress appointed a commission to select a site and submit plan and cost estimates for a new State Department Building, with possible arrangements to house the War and Navy departments.

The building, originally called the State, War, and Navy (SWAN) Building because it housed these three departments, was built between 1871 and 1888 in the French Second Empire style.

It was designed by Alfred B. Mullett, Supervising Architect of the Department of Treasury, which had responsibility for federal buildings. Patterned after French Second Empire architecture that clashed sharply with the neoclassical style of the other Federal buildings in the city, it was generally regarded with scorn and disdain. Writer Mark Twain referred to this building as "the ugliest building in America." President Harry S. Truman called it "the greatest monstrosity in America." Historian Henry Adams called it Mullett's "architectural infant asylum." Mullett later resigned. Beset by financial difficulties, litigation, and illness, in 1890 he committed suicide.

The exterior granite was cut and polished on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine, under a contract with Bodwell Granite Company. Much of the interior was designed by Richard von Ezdorf, using fireproof cast-iron structural and decorative elements. These included massive skylights above each of the major stairwells, and doorknobs with cast patterns indicating which of the original three occupying departments (State, Navy, or War) occupied a particular space. The total cost to construct the building was $10,038,482 when construction ended in 1888 ($350 million in 2024), after 17 years.^{[citation needed]}

The original tenants quickly outgrew the building and finally vacated it completely in the late 1930s. Becoming known as the Old Executive Office Building, it housed staff members of the Executive Office of the President. The building was considered inefficient and was nearly demolished in 1957. In 1969, the building was designated as a National Historic Landmark.