Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
- Architects
- Milton Bennett Medary Zantzinger, Borie & Medary Clarence C. Zantzinger Charles Louis Borie, Jr.
- Year
- 1935
- Style
- Greek Revival
- City
- Washington, DC
Main Justice, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice, was completed in 1935 on a trapezoidal Federal Triangle site at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, designed by the Philadelphia firm of Zantzinger, Borie & Medary under partner Milton Bennett Medary. Renamed in 2001 for Robert F. Kennedy, the 64th U.S. attorney general, the building has held the office of the attorney general -- created by the Judiciary Act of 1789 -- since it opened.
the building
A trapezoidal Federal Triangle site. The building fills an irregular, trapezoidal block bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, 9th Street, and 10th Street NW, wedged between the National Archives and the IRS Building as part of the coordinated Federal Triangle building campaign, just north of the National Mall.
Scale of the headquarters. The building comprises seven floors and roughly 1.2 million square feet, built to house the entire Department of Justice, including the office of the attorney general, under one roof.
the style
The building blends Greek Revival and Art Deco vocabularies, a combination typical of 1930s federal architecture in the Federal Triangle, where classical massing and proportion were paired with the streamlined ornament of the Deco era.
More on Greek Revivalthe architect
Milton Bennett Medary led the Philadelphia firm of Zantzinger, Borie & Medary, with partners Clarence C. Zantzinger and Charles Louis Borie, Jr.; the firm was among those commissioned for Washington's Federal Triangle complex in the 1930s.
significance
The building is a contributing property to the National Register of Historic Places and was renamed in 2001 to honor Robert F. Kennedy, the 64th U.S. attorney general.
nearby
- Internal Revenue Service Building
- National Archives
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- J. Edgar Hoover Building
- Old Post Office
- William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building