Pentagon building built

The Event Construction of the headquarters of the US War Department

Dates Groundbreaking on September 11, 1941; dedicated on January 15, 1943

Place Arlington, Virginia

The world’s largest office building, the Pentagon was built during World War II to house the entire War Department, which occupied various buildings throughout Washington, DC, before moving to the Pentagon. Named for its five-sided shape, the Pentagon has become the symbol of the US military and the Department of Defense.

At the onset of the 1940s, the War Department employed more than twenty-six thousand civilian and military personnel. The department occupied seventeen buildings throughout Washington, DC. The number of employees was projected to reach thirty thousand by 1942. The headquarters of the War Department was located in the Munitions Building, a temporary structure built during World War I. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson told President Franklin D. Roosevelt in May 1941 that his department needed more space, especially with war raging in Europe.

The head of the War Department’s construction division, Brigadier General Brehon B. Somervell, was put in charge of finding a solution. On July 17, 1941, he outlined plans for a permanent fix to Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Casey, who, like Somervell, was an engineer, and civilian architect George Bergstrom. He told the two men to design an air-conditioned office building with no more than four stories and without elevators, to conserve steel. Somervell wanted the building to include four million square feet of floor space, enough room to hold up to forty thousand employees. Casey and Bergstrom were given until the following Monday morning, four days away, to create the basic layout. The early design was approved by Somervell on that Monday and by Stimson the following day. A supplemental bill was quickly passed by Congress and signed by the president. The amendment gave the War Department $35 million for its new headquarters.

The unique shape of the building was a result of the original proposed location, Arlington Farm. The building would have been between Arlington National Cemetery and Memorial Bridge. There were several objections to this site, concerning the enormous building obstructing the view between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. The building site eventually changed to a location near Washington National Airport, which opened in June 1941 (renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in 1998). As the official approval process continued, Somervell selected contractors. The general contractor was John McShain, out of Philadelphia, whose firm had also built the Jefferson Memorial and the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Bergstrom planned a reinforced concrete building made up of five concentric pentagons connected by spokelike hallways radiating from a central courtyard. The pentagon shape was kept because the planners liked the design, even though it no longer was dictated by location, and there was not time to redesign the entire building.

Construction

Before construction could begin, the government needed to purchase 287 acres of additional land, costing around $2.2 million. The neighborhood was a slum known as Hell’s Bottom and contained factories, pawnshops, and about 150 homes. Unneeded acreage acquired in the deal was divided between Arlington National Cemetery and Fort Myer. Groundbreaking for the Pentagon occurred on September 11, 1941, the same day that the construction contracts were finalized. The project continued to be accelerated. Construction moved so rapidly that the architects had little lead time. Occasionally, construction proceeded faster than planning, resulting in the use of materials different from those intended.

On December 1, 1941, President Roosevelt transferred control of military construction from the Quartermaster Corps to the Army Corps of Engineers. At that time, a combined four thousand men worked three shifts on the construction. The attack on Pearl Harbor a few days later increased the urgency of the project. Somervell wanted one million square feet of office space ready for use by the beginning of April 1942.

On April 11, David Witmer replaced George Bergstrom as chief architect. The first section was completed by the end of April, and the first employees moved in. The overall frame and roof of the Pentagon building were completed within a year. Construction of the Pentagon was finished on January 15, 1943, just sixteen months after it started. Total costs are estimated to have reached $83 million.

During the early twenty-first century, the Pentagon remained the world’s largest office building, as measured by floor space (6.5 million square feet). It covers 28.7 acres, not counting its 5.1-acre center courtyard. It contains 17.5 miles of corridors. Construction on a building of its size would normally take four years. The five concentric pentagons are referred to as “rings,” labeled A-E, with the A ring the innermost. Senior officers tend to be given offices in the outermost E ring. Each room is designated by floor, ring, and office number. The building has five floors above ground (1-5) and two subterranean levels (basement and mezzanine).

Impact

The Pentagon is a symbol of the American military. Housing the entirety of the Department of Defense, the Pentagon illustrates the cohesiveness and cooperation between branches of the military and officials in a way that separate buildings could not. On September 11, 2001, exactly sixty years after the groundbreaking, the Pentagon was the target of a terrorist suicide attack carried out using a commercial airliner. Everyone on board the plane and more than one hundred Pentagon employees were killed when the plane crashed into the building. Even though more than 40 percent of the building sustained damage, the Pentagon was open for business the following day, presenting a strong image of courage, stability, reassurance, and valor to the American public and the rest of the world.

Bibliography

Alexander, David. The Building: A Biography of the Pentagon. Zenith Press, 2008. The history of national security and defense since the Pentagon’s construction. Also tells the stories of key players who have worked in the Pentagon, its politics, and its role in American history.

Creed, Patrick. Firefight. Presidio Press, 2008. Based on public records and more than 150 personal accounts of the attack on September 11, 2001, this book tells the story of those fighting to rescue their coworkers, protect national security, and save the Pentagon itself. Tells an often overlooked part of 9/11 history.

Goldberg, Alfred. The Pentagon. Government Printing Office, 1992. Detailed history of the Pentagon’s design, construction, architecture, cost, and environmental impact. Tells the story of the first fifty years of the world’s largest office building.

Vogel, Steve. The Pentagon: A History. Random House, 2008. Vogel tells what he calls the story of deceit that led to the construction of the Pentagon, citing examples of lies told to Congress, including some concerning the size and cost of the building.

Williams, Paul. Washington, D.C.: The World War II Years. Arcadia, 2004. A collection of nearly two hundred photographs of the capital taken during World War II. Includes a chapter on the Pentagon building and its construction.