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Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building

The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Justice.

The building is located at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, on a trapezoidal lot on the block bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue and between 9th Street and 10th Street NW.[1] The building is owned by the General Services Administration.[2] It comprises seven floors[3] and 1.2 million gross square feet.[2][1] It houses Department of Justice offices, including the office of the United States Attorney General.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Construction

The Office of the Attorney General was created by the 1st United States Congress by the Judiciary Act of 1789.[1] In 1792, the Congress made the Attorney General a Cabinet-level post.[1] In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill creating the Department of Justice.[1] Still, there was not yet a permanent home for either the Attorney General or the Justice Department, and each had occupied a succession of temporary spaces in federal government buildings and privately-owned office buildings.[1] While plans to provide the Department with its own building were developed as early as 1910, it was not until the late 1920s that significant progress was made toward this goal.[1]

In 1908 and in 1928, Congress authorized the purchase of land in what is now known as the Federal Triangle for departmental offices.[1] The authorization was part of a wave of government construction; the 1926 Public Buildings Act permitted the government to hire private architects for the design of federal buildings, which led to large-scale construction of public buildings, including the development of the 70-acre Federal Triangle site between the Capitol and the White House.[1] Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon and the Board of Architectural Consultants, comprised of leading architects and headed by Edward H. Bennett of the Chicago architectural firm of Bennett, Parsons, and Frost, developed design guidelines for the site. [1] Under Bennett's direction, each member of the board designed one of the buildings in the Federal Triangle complex to "provide each government agency or bureau with a building that would address its functional needs, while combining the individual buildings into a harmonious, monumental overall design expressive of the dignity and authority of the federal government."[1] Milton Bennett Medary of the Philadelphia firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary was selected as the architect for the Department of Justice Building; upon Medary's death in 1929, the project was taken over by his two partners Charles L. Borie, Jr. and Clarence C. Zantzinger.[1]

In 1930, Congress appropriated $10 million for the construction of a permanent Department of Justice headquarters in the Federal Triangle.[1] The building was constructed from 1931-1934.[1] Upon completion in 1935, the building finally provided a headquarters for the Attorney General and Department of Justice.[1] From 1935-1941 68 murals are painted in the building (an example of New Deal art).[1]

[edit] Post-construction

In 1966, the Department of Justice was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site.[1]

In 1974, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which had been headquarted in the same building, moved into its own headquarters at the J. Edgar Hoover Building across the street on Pennsylvania Avenue.

In 1978, the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) was established after the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The court of 11 judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States (increased from seven by the USA PATRIOT Act) meets in secret the Justice Department Building: "like a modern Star Chamber...behind a cipher-locked door in a windowless, bug-proof, vault-like room guarded 24 hours a day on the top floor of the Justice Department building."[4]

[edit] Renovations

From March 1998 to January 2006,[2] major renovations to the building took place, including work on plumbing, electrical wiring, heating and cooling, and elevators. The project included replication of original lighting for the building's corridors and other ornamental spaces.[1] A new $3.1 million conference center and "data room" were built, the main library and executive suites, were restored, and a a new mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) system was installed.[2]

The project's submitting firm and construction manager was the Gilbane Building Company, the architectural firm was Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates, the structural engineering firm was Delon Hampton Associates, and the mechanical/electrical engineer was H.F. Lenz Company.[2]

Several difficulties were present: The building had to remain operational during renovations, and hazardous materials were involved, with a large-scale asbestos abatement effort, lead paint removal, and the handling of mercury-vapor lamps with PCBs. The Gilbane Building Company established a "stop-work" rule to halt construction when hazardous material was discovered.[2] An additional complication was security concerns, because of sensitive and classified information in the building. According to Building Design & Construction, construction personnel were "classified into three tiers and were permitted access to specific building areas based on these three levels of security clearance."[2] The extensive murals, sculptures, and plaster reliefs in the building were protected with shields during the construction, and temperature, humidity, and dust controls were installed.[2]

The cost of the renovations was $142 million, but the project came in $4.2 million under budget, in part due to significant conservation efforts.[2] Design consultants decided to renovate courtyard plaza and garage structures instead of demolishing them, using 95 percent of existing materials.[2] Cobblestone blocks in the courtyard were "removed, cleaned, refurbished, and reinstalled," with "the foundation of the courtyard's original fountain" being preserve and its pipes and pumps were replaced.[2] Further, only the concrete of "questionable integrity around the facility's garage beams" was repaired, instead of having all the concrete replaced.[2] For the plaza deck, the integrity of the concrete structure was tested. Some sections were found to be repairable, preventing them from being rebuilt and diverting 14,520 tons of waste from landfill.[2] Finally, the original foundation and structure building was preserved, which saved 110 tons of waste material and decreased "the risk of penetrating a sensitive waterproofing membrane system."[2] Additional costs were saved through "early buyout": "taking advantage of the purchasing power of the entire four-phase construction job," the construction management firm "was able to secure prices early on in the project that otherwise would have been spent covering the escalating costs of building materials."[2]

These measures allowed the GSA to carry out additional work: "restoration and repointing of the limestone exterior," repair and replacement of the roof, restoration of "ornate painting and plaster," further hazardous materials abatement, and fire code upgrades.[2] Ultimately close to $1 million was returned to the GSA.

[edit] Renaming

In 2001, the Department of Justice Main Building was renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in honor of Robert F. Kennedy, who was Attorney General (1961-1964) under his brother President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was later a U.S. Senator from New York and presidential candidate until his assassination in 1968.[1] President George W. Bush directed the General Services Administrator to designate the building as the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in a presidential memorandum,[5][6] and gave the rededication address on November 20, 2001.[7][8]

Today the building retains exceptional historic integrity. The original facades, lobbies, corridors, library, Great Hall, executive suites and private offices retain their original materials and design, including the extensive use of ornamental aluminum.[1]

The building has been the site of demonstrations on the streets outside. On November 16, 2007, African American leaders led by Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Charles Kenzie Steele, Jr. protested in a march on Pennsylvania Avenue to the Justice Department against perceived racial inequality in the justice system. The protest was precipitated by the case of the Jena Six.[9][10]

[edit] Design

The design by Zantzinger, Borie, and Medary blends influences from neoclassical (Greek Revival) and Art Deco architectural styles.[1] The design is similar to other Federal Triangle buildings, with an Indiana limestone facade over a steel frame, red-tile hip roof, and colonnades, as well as interior courtyards to provide natural light and ventilation.[1]

It is distingushed from other Federal Triangle buildings by Art Deco elements and the innovative use of aluminum for details that were traditionally cast in bronze.[1] All entrances to the building feature 20-foot-high aluminum doors that slide into recessed pockets. Interior stair railings, grillwork, and door trim are aluminum, as are Art Deco torchieres, doors for the building's 25 elevators, and more than 10,000 light fixtures.[1]

The building has many distinctive interior spaces, including the Great Hall entry foyer and the Law Library.[1] The two-story Great Hall features Art Deco light fixtures and a terra-cotta tile floor with gray marble borders.[1] The Law Library, located on the fifth floor, is a two-story room distinguished by a pair of tall Art Deco lights and a 20-panel mural by Maurice Sterne.[1]

The building contains the largest historic art collection of any General Services Administration-built facility.[2] Sculpture is integrated into the fabric of the building.[1] Sculptor C. Paul Jennewein was selected to create a unified design concept for the building's exterior and interior spaces, designing 57 sculptural elements for the building. His work ranged from the carved limestone figures for the pediments on the Constitution Avenue facade, to the aluminum Art Deco torchieres and light fixtures throughout the interior.[1] Spirit of Justice is one such statue designed by Jennewein.

The interior of the U.S. Department of Justice building contains many decorative wall paintings.[1] The building's extensive murals depict scenes of daily life from throughout American history and symbolic interpretations or allegories relating to the role of justice in American society.[1] In all, 68 murals were completed between 1935 and 1941, at a cost of $68,000, one percent of the cost of the building.[1]

The striking, colorful concrete mosaics on the ceilings of the vehicular and pedestrian entryways from 9th and 10th Streets were created by the Washington, D.C. master craftsman John Joseph Earley, an innovator in the aesthetic applications of the material.[1] Visible from the street, these mosaics retain much of the brilliance of their original colors.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah "U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC." General Services Administration. 21 Aug. 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Horwitz-Bennett, Barbara. "Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building." Building Design & Construction 48.13 (Oct. 2006): 72.
  3. ^ Johnston, David. "Ashcroft Gets Acquainted on First Day of New Job." New York Times 3 Feb. 2001.
  4. ^ Bamford, James. "Washington Bends the Rules" (op-ed). New York Times 27 Aug. 2002.
  5. ^ "Memorandum Directs Designation of Main Justice Building as the "Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building." United States Department of Justice. 20 Nov. 2001.
  6. ^ "Presidential Memo on RFK Justice Building." Office of the White House Press Secretary. 20 Nov. 2001.
  7. ^ "President Dedicates Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building." Office of the White House Press Secretary. 20 Nov. 2001.
  8. ^ Woolley, John T., and Gerhard Peters. "George W. Bush Remarks on the Dedication of the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building." American Presidency Project. University of California, Santa Barbara. 20 Nov. 2001.
  9. ^ Harris, Hamil R., and Michael E. Ruane. "Thousands Rally Against Perceived Bias in Prosecutions; Response to Hate Crimes Is Decried." Washington Post 17 Nov. 2007
  10. ^ "Protest at the Justice Department." Associated Press 17 Nov. 2007.
This article incorporates text from the General Services Administration, which is public domain as a work of the United States federal government.