Federal buildings in the United States

Federal buildings in the United States house offices of the United States government that provide services to state and city level population centers. These federal buildings are often literally named Federal Building, with this moniker displayed on the property; they may share real estate with federal courthouses.

There are design issues specific to federal buildings, relating to their multipurpose functions and concerns related to the fact of their association with the government. For example, as symbols of the government, they may potentially be focus of protests or threats, so there are security issues. Also environmental impacts and environmentally sound design may be more important.

A committee set up by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 issued "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture". Towards improving design of federal buildings in the United States, "the committee recommended architecture that would convey the 'dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American Government.' Designers and officials were encouraged to pay special attention to site selection and layout, including landscape development."^[1]

Some architects specialize in federal building designs.^[2]

History

The first U.S. Federal building authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1807, with an appropriation of $20,000 to build, in New Orleans, a post office, courthouse, or custom house.^[3]

Historically, the authorization and construction of the first federally-funded building in a small town often has been a major event. Sometimes these were simply a post office or a courthouse; often they were combination buildings.

The Treasury Department of the U.S. established a Department of Construction office in 1852. From 1864 on the Office of the Supervising Architect handled design of federal buildings.^[3]

William Gibbs McAdoo, the Secretary of the Treasury from 1913 to 1918, and the Supervising Architect at the time, James A. Wetmore promoted standardization of government building design. They instituted the policy that buildings were to be designed with "scale, materials and finishes" that directly reflected their "location, prominence and income".^[4]^[5] This push to standardization of public building design was in conflict with the Tarsney Act,^[5] which permitted private architects to design federal buildings after being selected in a competition under the supervision of the Supervising Architect. The act, under which several prior buildings were designed, was repealed in 1913 as it was felt that designing building with government architects would most efficiently cause the desired standardization.^[5]

Buildings were to be designed with specific criteria, A "Class A" building was one which was on a major street of a major city, surrounding by expensive building and expected to generate at least $800,000 in revenue. These buildings would have marble or granite exteriors, marble interiors, ornamental bronze, and other similar fixtures.^[5]

A small post office with revenue of under $15,000 would be made of brick, with standard wood windows and doors and would appear "ordinary". Critics felt the system would make public buildings too plain.^[5]

The growth of cities and government functions has led to the need for large multipurpose highrise federal buildings. An example is the 32-story $120 million construction in Cleveland of the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building.^[6]

In the United States, multipurpose federal buildings are generally managed by the U.S. General Services Administration. The GSA recognized its top 20 federal buildings in 2014.^[7]