Lafayette Building (Washington, D.C.)

Lafayette Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
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Location	811 Vermont Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°54′03″N 77°02′04″W / 38.900767°N 77.034536°W / 38.900767; -77.034536Coordinates: 38°54′03″N 77°02′04″W / 38.900767°N 77.034536°W / 38.900767; -77.034536
NRHP Reference #	05001205
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 1, 2005
Designated NHL	September 1, 2005

The Lafayette Building, also known as Export-Import Bank Building, is a federal government office building at 811 Vermont Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.. Completed in 1940, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2005. Its landmark designation was made because it was home to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the government arm that financed and oversaw the mobilization of the United States economy during World War II.

In 1938, the Lafayette Building Corporation was established with the purpose of constructing a building at Lafayette and Fifteenth streets in Washington, D.C. The corporation intended to privately develop the building that would then be leased to the federal government, making this an unusual speculative venture. The group retained the Chicago architectural firm Holabird & Root to design the building, which included some of the first uses of underground parking and central air-conditioning in the city. Holabird & Root invited a former employee, Washington architect A.R. Clas, to participate in key components of the design. Clas, who also worked for the federal government before starting his own firm, was likely critical in securing the commission. The architects selected the Stripped Classical style for the design of the Lafayette Building. The cornerstone was laid in 1939 and construction was completed a year later. Architectural Forum praised the design as a good example of "an observance of the classic formula with the elimination of accompanying detail."

While commercial enterprises occupied the street-level retail spaces, finance-related agencies leased the remaining portions of the building. Original tenants included the Federal Loan Agency, Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), RFC Mortgage Company, Disaster Loan Agency, Federal National Mortgage Authority, Export-Import Bank of Washington, and the Elective Home and Farm Authority, all established during the New Deal era. The building is significant for its historical association with both the Federal Loan Agency and the RFC, which were critical agencies involved in financing the mobilization of American industries during World War II. Jesse Holman Jones, who served as the chairman of the RFC until 1939 when he was appointed Federal Loan Administrator, maintained an office in the Lafayette Building, monitoring RFC activities even after he was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce in 1940, a position he retained until his retirement in 1945. Jones was called the second most important man in American government, after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the building is significant for its association with Jones's prominent career.