The
Pentagon, located in Arlington (Virginia), is the headquarter of the United
States Department of Defense.
When World
War II broke out in Europe, the headquarters of the United States Department of
War was spread out in different temporary buildings such as the Greggory
Building, the National Mall. The situation was unacceptable for secretary of
War Henry L. Stimson, and that is what he told President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
It was decided to build a new building from scratch; it had to be no more than
four stories tall with a minimal amount of steel, which implied the building
would be sprawling over a large area. Steel was in short supply during WWII.
The originally chosen site had a roughly pentagonal shape, and that is how it
was designed. But president Roosevelt suddenly
got concerned that the new building could obstruct the view of Washington D.C.
from Arlington Cemetery. Finally, the obsolete Hoover Airport location was
selected. But, after changing the site, the design was maintained because a
major change would have been very expensive. Nevertheless, it was modified to a
perfect shaped pentagon. Part of the attached neighborhood, Hell’s Bottom, was
bought for completing the space needed, including some pawnshops, some
factories and 150 houses making 280 acres (1.1 km2).
Works begun
on September 11, 1941. The reinforced concrete structure was covered with
Indiana limestone facades. 680,000 tons
sand from the Potomac River were used for the construction. The necessity of
having the headquarters finished rush the process to an unbelievable speed,
rushed even more, after Pearl Harbor attack (December 7 1941)
The Pentagon
has double the standard toilet facilities due to the state of Virginia’s racial
laws at the time of it construction. On each floor there were double toilet
facilities separated by gender and race. However, president Roosvelt ordered to
remove the “Whites Only” signs before the building was used and during a long
period of time, it was the only building in Virginia were segregation was not
allowed.
The
building was completed by January 15, 1943. It was the largest building in the
country, housing more than 17 miles of corridors. Normally, it would have taken
years, but it was designed and executed in just 16 months.
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| Aerial view of the two first sides |
