J. Edgar Hoover Building, Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building is the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., spreading across an entire city block. Its buff-colored concrete facade displays rows of bronze-tinted windows that repeat in regular patterns along the street, giving the structure a heavy, closed appearance.
Construction of the FBI headquarters began in the mid-1960s and took a full decade to complete. The cost nearly doubled from the initial 60 million to 126 million dollars during the building process.
The building bears the name of the first FBI director, who led the agency for nearly five decades and shaped it into a national institution. Its massive concrete form stands today as a built testament to Cold War-era security architecture, when federal agencies constructed inward-facing fortresses.
The building stands directly on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol, and visitors can view it freely from the street. Since public tours are no longer offered, a visit remains limited to observing the exterior facade, which extends over several street sides.
The building's design was meant to avoid the blocky, monolithic look of most federal architecture of its time, and the architects finished the design by 1964. Two wings connect the two main masses around an open-air, trapezoidal courtyard. Inside are a 700-seat theater, a two-story basketball court and a morgue.
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