Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building
- Architect
- Waddy Butler Wood
- Year
- 1936
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- Washington, DC
- Collection
- d.c. deco
Completed in 1936, the Main Interior Building has served as the headquarters of the U.S. Department of the Interior ever since, designed by Waddy Butler Wood in the PWA Moderne style associated with major New Deal-era federal construction. It occupies a full block in Foggy Bottom, bounded by 18th and 19th Streets, E Street, C Street, and Virginia Avenue NW. Its official address, 1849 C Street NW, was chosen to commemorate the Interior Department's founding year of 1849.
the building
The address as tribute. Even though the building fills its entire city block, its official address was set as 1849 C Street NW specifically to mark 1849, the year the Department of the Interior was created.
Interior Museum and Library. The building houses the Interior Museum and the Interior Library alongside the offices of the Secretary of the Interior and the department's major bureaus.
the style
The building is executed in PWA Moderne, the stripped-down classical style favored for federal buildings funded through New Deal public works programs of the 1930s.
More on Art Decothe architect
Waddy Butler Wood was a prominent Washington, DC architect responsible for a number of the city's federal and residential landmarks of the early 20th century.
significance
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites.
nearby
- Constitution Hall
- Memorial Continental Hall
- United States Public Health Service Building
- Pan American Union (Organization of American States)
- American National Red Cross
- Octagon House (John Tayloe House)