Exactly 60 years before the September attacks, on September 11, , ground was broken in Arlington Country, Virginia, for a huge new building to house the War Department, forerunner of today's Department of Defense. The department was then operating from 17 separate buildings in Washington. At certain periods 13, people worked on the project. Originally, plans called for three floors, but as the military prepared for war after the attack on Pearl Harbor , two more floors were added.
To conserve steel, concrete ramps were used in place of elevators and the outside walls were made of reinforced concrete. The Pentagon was built in "stripped classical" style, a variation of Greek and Roman classicism popular in the middle of the 20th century and often used for government buildings.
On January 15, , just 16 months after construction began, the Pentagon was completed. In April, occupants began moving in. Since five roads surrounded the site, builders chose a five-sided building, which is how the Pentagon got its name. The building consists of five concentric rings connected by ten corridors that run, like spokes, from the inner ring to the outer. Interior courtyards that provide light separate the rings. The corridors are a total of There are 3,, square feet for offices, concessions, and storage.
The five-sided center courtyard covers five acres. A shopping concourse, numerous snack bars, cafeterias, dining rooms, banks, a subway station, and a bus platform make the Pentagon "a city within a city. The Building. The famous edifice has five rings, five floors above ground and two floors below ground.
There are almost 18 miles of corridors. Despite its size, the layout of the hallways and interconnecting walkways enables an individual to reach any office in less than seven minutes. Because the E-ring is the only one with exterior views, it is the location for offices of the most senior officials. The five-acre courtyard park is nicknamed Ground Zero. The term was inspired by the belief that the park would be a primary target for Soviet nuclear missiles during the Cold War.
The Pentagon is twice the size of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The U. The dock was once used by duty boats that transported service members across the Potomac River to Bolling Air Force Base.
The other two facades are known as the Helipad and South Parking entrances. The site of numerous anti-war protests over the years, the Pentagon was added to the National Register of Historic Places in In the late s, a new headquarters was constructed in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.
This building soon proved inadequate. It is currently used by the State Department. In , it was agreed that a new large office building would be constructed in Arlington. The original site selected for construction was the pentagon-shaped Arlington Farms, a temporary housing complex for female civil servants operated by the Department of Agriculture.
When concerns arose that the new building might obstruct views of Washington, DC from Arlington National Cemetery, the construction site was moved to the former Hoover Field Airport. The configuration was reminiscent of the star-shaped forts built during the gunpowder age. To reduce the amount of steel used, architects incorporated ramps rather than elevators in the building. Steel was in short supply and needed for the war effort. Architectural, design and construction work were accomplished simultaneously, and the building was constructed in sections to save time.
Because steel is needed to build high, the Pentagon was designed to be short. The primary building material? Concrete, comprised, in part, of , tons of sand and gravel from the Potomac. Also absent, until recently—elevators, because you need steel to make them. Now, thanks to a massive renovation project , there are 70 of them. The first site chosen for the building was Arlington Farms , which was pentagon-shaped.
But planners figured out that the building would block the view of Washington from nearby Arlington National Cemetery. So another site was chosen where Hoover Field used to be. Also, President Roosevelt liked the design—an important factor in keeping the original layout. In theory, at least, it takes no longer than six minutes to walk between any two spots in the building.
According to Vogel, the shape also proved conducive to optimal use of space and utilities, such as electricity and plumbing. As specified by Virginia state law regarding segregation in public buildings at the time it was built, the Pentagon almost had segregated bathrooms and eating areas.
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