Harry S Truman Building

Harry S Truman Building
The Harry S Truman Building, as seen in April 2008.
Former names	Main State Building
Alternative names	State Department building
General information
Architectural style	Modern Movement Stripped classical
Location	2201 C Street, NW Washington, D.C. United States
Coordinates	38°53′40″N 77°02′54″W / 38.8944°N 77.0484°W / 38.8944; -77.0484Coordinates: 38°53′40″N 77°02′54″W / 38.8944°N 77.0484°W / 38.8944; -77.0484
Current tenants	U.S. State Department
Construction started	1939
Completed	1941
Renovated	1960s, 2000s
Owner	U.S. federal government
Technical details
Floor area	1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m2)
Design and construction
Architect	Louis A. Simon
Other designers	William Dewey Foster Gilbert Stanley Underwood

The Harry S Truman Building is the headquarters of the United States Department of State. It is located in the national capital, Washington, D.C.

The Truman Building 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 houses the office of the United States Secretary of State

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 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. The Public Buildings Administration of 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.