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28-731: Prior to 1985, the Department of State's telecommunications system resided at the department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. State Department leaders worried that this left the department's communications infrastructure vulnerable to catastrophic disasters and emergencies, and thus in 1984 Congress authorized the construction of a backup communications facility, the Beltsville Communications Center, in Beltsville, Maryland, 14 miles (23 km) north of

56-634: A $ 77.4 million contract in September 2014 to renovate much of the rest of the structure. Some of the renovations would restructure the interior layout of the building to meet the State Department's needs. However, most of the contract would focus on replacing the building's electrical, elevator, mechanical, plumbing, and telecommunication systems. The refurbishment was scheduled to begin in January 2015 and take 14 months to complete. The building

84-564: A base-shaft-capital system. The wings create a series of interior courtyards . The interior courtyard walls are clad in dark granite, emphasizing the transition from base to shaft. The construction of the State Department Extension, completed in 1960, is reinforced concrete and was designed in the International style. Buff colored limestone cladding helps to create a cohesive combination of the two buildings. With

112-595: A new building to consolidate operations a high priority. It was always intended to construct the building in two phases, and the Foggy Bottom site was chosen because it was large enough to accommodate both. Gilbert Stanley Underwood and William Dewey Foster won the contract for the War Department building. They designed the building during 1938–1939 and construction began in 1940, with John McShain, Inc. as contractor. The Public Buildings Administration of

140-627: A stable temperature and cool mainframe computers. The BIMC also houses the Foreign Affairs Data Processing Center , which moved into a 99,000 square feet (9,200 m) addition to the complex in 1991. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has moved several programs into the BIMC. In 1995, the facility began serving as the central delivery point for USAID's information technology services. In 1997, USAID moved its Emergency Operations Center to

168-518: Is an allegory of the American Revolution , including maps, cannon and other armament, and flags of the era. The eastern section of the fifth floor contains executive office suites for department heads and their staffs. The west side of the corridor includes staff offices and the general council room. The east side of the corridor includes office suites originally designated for the secretary of war and chief of staff. The south courtyard of

196-445: Is charged with "eliminating the potential for disruption or loss of telecommunications between the Department and its mission abroad". The Beltsville center must continue to operate when the communications center at the department's headquarters cannot. The Alternate Communications Center , which is housed within the complex, allows messages to be relayed without being routed through the department's primary communications center. In 1998,

224-585: Is currently being renovated under a twelve-year plan to modernize the structure. In May 2014, the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a $ 25 million contract to build a new public entrance on the east side of the Truman Building. The glass and steel structure acts not only as a high-security entrance to the building but also as a museum about American diplomacy. The 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m ) addition, called

252-591: Is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood at 2201 C Street NW , bounded by C Street to the south, E Street, D Street, and Virginia Avenue to the north, 21st Street to the east, and 23rd Street to the west. It is located to the west of Edward J. Kelly Park and north of the National Academy of Sciences building and the National Mall . The Truman Building is named in honor of Harry Truman ,

280-480: The Federal Works Agency , which inherited oversight responsibility for the federal buildings program from the U.S. Treasury Department in 1939, completed the first phase of the building in 1941. During the design process, several agencies expressed concern that the War Department had already expanded beyond the capacity of the building. These concerns turned out to be correct; while some offices of

308-498: The U.S. Diplomacy Center , was designed by the firm Beyer Blinder Belle and constructed by Gilbane Construction . The addition was privately funded by the Diplomacy Center Foundation, a nonprofit established by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright in 2000 to honor American diplomats. The National Capital Planning Commission approved the design in 2011. Construction was completed in 2017. GSA awarded

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336-554: The BIMC. The BIMC is located next door to the headquarters of the U.S. Special Collection Service, a joint Central Intelligence Agency – National Security Agency eavesdropping program. According to Foreign Policy , satellite imagery from the 1990s shows fiber optic cable linking the SCS headquarters to the BIMC, which indicates that the BIMC services the communications needs of the SCS. According to The Week , when SCS personnel are deployed abroad, they often work ostensibly as members of

364-638: The Diplomatic Telecommunications Service. 39°02′46″N 76°51′50″W  /  39.046°N 76.864°W  / 39.046; -76.864 Harry S Truman Building The Harry S Truman Building is the headquarters of the United States Department of State . It is located in Washington, D.C. , and houses the office of the United States secretary of state . The Truman Building

392-685: The State Department Building features a sculpture by Marshall Fredericks titled The Expanding Universe , which includes a circular fountain and an architectural bronze statue. A treaty room and the ceremonial office of the secretary of state is on the seventh floor. Diplomatic reception rooms were installed on the eighth floor during the 1980s as reproductions of early American architecture. They are furnished with eighteenth-century antique furnishings and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artwork. National Capital Planning Commission Too Many Requests If you report this error to

420-471: The State Department Extension, was completed in 1960 and dedicated in 1961. The original building was informally called "Old State" with the addition identified as "New State". In September 2000, the State Department building (previously known as "Main State", and often called by the metonym " Foggy Bottom ") was named in honor of President Harry S. Truman . As of 2007 , more than 8000 employees worked in

448-427: The Truman Building. The building houses 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m ) to 1.507 million square feet (140,000 m ) of usable space, the corridors take up over 267,000 square feet (24,800 m ), and the roof area is about seven acres (28,000 square meters). There are 44 elevators, over 4000 windows, and about 34,000 fluorescent light fixtures that provide interior illumination. The building

476-507: The War Department moved into the building for a few years, the building never became the War Department headquarters. By the time construction was complete, the War Department had already outgrown the building. Congress appropriated funds for construction of the Pentagon early in 1941, the same year the first phase of the building was completed. Department of State also grew rapidly during the war (from under 1000 employees to over 7000), but

504-517: The building is still commonly referred to as the War Department Building. World War II spurred the growth of this department as well. However, the planned expansion was delayed until Congress allocated funds for the addition in 1955. Harley, Probst Associates, a joint venture between Harley, Ellington, and Day of Detroit and Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White of Chicago, won the contract for the design in 1956. The addition, known as

532-400: The capital. The facility has since expanded to become a major communications network management center, serving as the primary hub of the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service. The facility covers 142,000 square feet (13,200 m) and, as of 1998, was staffed by 32 civil service and foreign service employees and 56 contract support personnel. According to the Department of State, the BIMC

560-428: The center was reported to relay more than 143,000 official records and 90,000 data messages to diplomatic posts and foreign affairs agencies each day. An onsite fuel storage facility can sustain the BIMC for 38 days, while a 150,000-US-gallon (570,000-litre) water tank can sustain the center for at least eight days—the site consumes between 8,000 and 10,000 US gallons (30,000 and 38,000 litres) of water each day to maintain

588-405: The completion of the extension, the building became second to the Pentagon in the number of offices that it houses. Since its completion, access to the main ceremonial entrance and lobby is via the south elevation. The entrance is located off-center toward the west end of the building and is set back to frame a forecourt. The court is paved with a combination of gray and red granite. At either side of

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616-423: The forecourt, a limestone belt course runs the full width of the elevation above the basement and second stories. Limestone piers span the first and second stories. The East Lobby of the original building is a two-story rectangular space surrounded by a screen of paired piers. Four large pendant lights , which are original, are the primary light source. The floors are terrazzo and the walls are travertine . Above

644-430: The room. The walls on either side are clad in burled California redwood paneling. The Loy Henderson Conference Room is two stories tall. The walls are Verde Antique marble with brass and bronze accents. A speakers' platform, stepped up at the center, is set along the west wall. In the lobby of the fifth floor executive office suite is a mural by James McCreery entitled Liberty or Death : Don't Tread on Me . The work

672-461: The security barriers at the rear of the lobby is a mural by Kindred McLeary titled The Defense of Human Freedoms , which depicts the five freedoms flanked at either end of the mural by their defenders, the American military. Access to the auditorium is via the second floor. The Dean Acheson Auditorium extends upward from the first through the third stories. The stage spans the full east wall of

700-595: The thirty-third president of the United States . During the early 1930s, the National Capital Park and Planning Commission sought to develop the section of the District of Columbia known as Foggy Bottom, located between C, E, Eighteenth, and Twenty-third streets. Leading up to World War II , the expanding Department of War occupied several different buildings on the mall, making the need for

728-536: Was deliberately asymmetrical. A central spine connects a U-shaped configuration to the east with an E-shaped configuration to the west. The east entrance is inspired by the main building of the Sapienza University of Rome campus, designed by italian architect Marcello Piacentini and completed in 1935. The horizontal delineations of the facade reflect the classical precedents of the architectural style. Cornices and pink granite string courses create

756-540: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. The original portion of the building, known as the War Department Building, is an example of the Stripped Classical architectural style with Art Moderne elements. The steel -framed building is clad in limestone and rises eight stories above the basement and sub-basement. Because it was designed to be expanded at a later date, it

784-403: Was lower in priority and so got scattered all over Washington, occupying 47 buildings by the mid-1940s. In 1946, President Truman decided to make use of the space vacated by the War Department's ongoing move to the Pentagon to consolidate the central functions of the State Department in one place; the change of tenants was completed over January through August 1947. However, the original portion of

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