State, War, and Navy Building
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State, War, and Navy Building
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| Location |
Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, NW Washington, D.C. |
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| Coordinates | 38°53′51.24″N 77°2′20.93″W / 38.8975667°N 77.0391472°WCoordinates: 38°53′51.24″N 77°2′20.93″W / 38.8975667°N 77.0391472°W |
| Built | 1871–88 |
| Architect | Alfred B. Mullett |
| Architectural style | French Second Empire |
| NRHP Reference # | 69000293 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 4 June 1969 |
| Designated NHL | 11 November 1971 |
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) — formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) and even earlier as the State, War, and Navy Building — is a U.S. government building situated just west of the White House in the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. Maintained by the General Services Administration, it is occupied by the Executive Office of the President, including the Office of the Vice President of the United States. Located on 17th Street NW, between Pennsylvania Avenue and New York Avenue, and West Executive Drive, the building, commissioned by Ulysses S. Grant, built between 1871 and 1888, on the site of the original 1800 War/State/Navy Building and the White House stables, in the French Second Empire style, is a National Historic Landmark. It was for years the world's largest office building, with 566 rooms and about ten acres of floor space. Many White House employees have their offices in the massive edifice.
The building—originally called the State, War, and Navy Building because it housed the Departments of State, War, and the Navy—was built between 1871 and 1888 in the French Second Empire style. It was designed by Alfred B. Mullett, Supervising Architect. Patterned after French Second Empire architecture that clashed sharply with the neoclassical style of the other Federal buildings in the city, it was generally regarded with scorn and disdain, and Mullett, the exterior architect, ended his life by suicide, while in litigation. The OEOB was referred to by Mark Twain as "the ugliest building in America."Harry Truman called it "the greatest monstrosity in America." Historian Henry Adams called it Mullett's “architectural infant asylum.”
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