Eisenhower Executive Office Building

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) is the building that houses a majority of offices for White House staff. It is located just next to the White House on 17th Street, N.W., between Pennsylvania Avenue and New York Avenue. The building was registered in National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and one year later as landmark property on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites.

It was originally built for the State, War and Navy Departments and housed these three branches mostly dealing with foreign policy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century (when US emerged as an international power). For a long time it was known as Old Executive Office Building (OEOB).

The history of the building started in December 1869, when Congress appointed a commission to select a site and prepare plans and cost estimates for a new State Department Building. The construction began in 1871 and it took 17 years to complete the building, so it was finished in1888. The building is huge; it covers the area of 15.21 acres, what actually is the area of 11 1/2 football fields.

The building was designed by Supervising Architect of the Treasury Alfred Mullett in the architectural style called French Second Empire (the style is characterized by the use of a steep mansard roof, central and terminal pavilions, and an elaborately sculptured Façade; comes from Europe). EEOB is one of the most perfect representatives of this style in USA. The main interior designer became Richard Ezdorf, who was using fireproof cast-iron structural and decorative elements.

Gradually, the building has been seen as inefficient by President Eisenhower's Advisory Committee and was nearly demolished in 1957. However, the overwhelming expenses associated with the demolition saved the building. Since 1981, major renovations have been carried out.