Department of Labor Building
- Architect
- Arthur Brown, Jr.
- Year
- 1935
- Style
- Neoclassical
- City
- Washington, DC
- Collection
- the city beautiful
Arthur Brown, Jr. designed the Department of Labor Building as part of the Federal Triangle development, which replaced the slum district known as Murder Bay. Built between 1928 and its 1934 completion at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, it served as the Labor Department's headquarters until the 1970s, then housed the U.S. Customs Service before the Environmental Protection Agency moved in.
the building
Site: Murder Bay. The building rose on the former site of Murder Bay, a notorious slum whose redevelopment had been discussed for decades before Congress finally funded land purchase and construction in 1926, clearing the way for the Federal Triangle.
the style
Designed in the Neoclassicism that governs the whole Federal Triangle complex, the building presents a uniform, monumental civic face alongside its government neighbors along Constitution Avenue NW.
More on Neoclassicalsignificance
A National Register of Historic Places contributing property in the Federal Triangle, the building outlived its original tenant: after the Labor Department left in the 1970s, the U.S. Customs Service moved in, and the space is now occupied by the Environmental Protection Agency.
nearby
- Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building
- U.S. Capitol Gatehouses and Gateposts
- Herbert C. Hoover Building
- District Building (John A. Wilson Bldg.)