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[[underline]] Pension Building [[/underline]]

The Secretary summarized the following report.

The Joint Committee on Landmarks selected the Pension Building as a "landmark of great historic and aesthetic value" in 1964.

The Pension Building is located at the north end of Judiciary Square, bounded by F, G, 4th, and 5th Streets in Northwest Washington. Its Italian Renaissance design (accredited to General Montgomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the Union Army) is architecturally dominated by an enclosed center court measuring approximately 116 ft. by 300 ft. It also includes approximately 70,000 sq. ft. of storage space. The building was constructed in the period 1882-85 to house the Pension Bureau. It was also used for Presidential inaugural balls from 1885 to 1909. The General Accounting Office occupied the building from 1926 to 1950, and since that time it has been devoted to a variety of purposes.

In a letter to the General Services Administration dated April 26, 1965, the Smithsonian expressed its interest in the future use of the architecturally significant Pension Building. The General Services Administration responded in May 1968 with a proposal to transfer the Pension Building to the custody of the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian subsequently occupied approximately 22,000 sq. ft. of temporary office space from 1969 to 1970.

While expressing appreciation for the use of a portion of the building, the Smithsonian recommended that the building be used