| Longworth House Office Building | |
|---|---|
 The Longworth House Office Building (c. 2004) | |
  Location withinWashington, D.C. | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical |
| Location | 1100 Longworth,United States Capitol Complex[1],Washington, D.C., United States |
| Coordinates | 38°53′12.48″N77°0′30.6″W / 38.8868000°N 77.008500°W /38.8868000; -77.008500 |
| Opened | April 1933; 92 years ago (April 1933) |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Marble |
| Grounds | 702,608 square feet (65,274.4 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Frank Upman, Gilbert LaCoste Rodier, Nathan C. Wyeth and Louis Justemente |
| Architecture firm | Allied Architects of Washington |
TheLongworth House Office Building (LHOB) is one of five office buildings used by theUnited States House of Representatives. The building is located south of the Capitol, bounded byIndependence Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, C Street S.E., andSouth Capitol Street, insoutheast Washington. It has a floor area of 599,675 square feet (55,711.6 m2) and has a total of 251 congressional offices and suites, five large committee rooms, seven small committee rooms, a large assembly room in which theHouse Ways and Means Committee assembles, and a secondary office or headquarters' annex for theGovernment Accountability Office.[2][3]
The building was named in 1962 in honor of formerspeaker of the HouseNicholas Longworth ofOhio, who served as speaker from 1925 until the Republicans lost their majority in 1931. He died that year, and the building was authorized the same year.
With a floor area of just under 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2),[4] it is the smallest of the House office buildings.
"Because of its position on a sloping site, the rusticated base of the Longworth Building varies in height from two to four stories. Above thisgranite base stand the three principal floors, which are faced with whitemarble.Ionic columns supporting a well-proportionedentablature are used for the building's fiveporticoes, the principal one of which is topped by apediment. Two additional stories are partially hidden by a marblebalustrade. It presents a somewhat more restrained appearance than the neighboring Cannon Building, which was designed in the more theatricalBeaux Arts style. The Longworth Building takes its place along with theNational Gallery of Art (1941) and theJefferson Memorial (1943) as one of Washington's best examples of theNeo-classical Revival style".[4]
Plans to provide the House of Representatives with a second office building were begun in 1925. Severe overcrowding in theCannon House Office Building (completed in 1908) led to the renovation of the Cannon Building and the construction of the Longworth Building.[4]
Under the direction ofArchitect of the CapitolDavid Lynn, preliminary designs for the building were prepared by a local firm known as The Allied Architects of Washington Inc. The principal architects were Frank Upman, Gilbert LaCoste Rodier,Nathan C. Wyeth, and Louis Justemente. They produced two schemes for a simple, dignified building in harmony with the rest of the Capitol Complex. In January 1929 Congress authorized $8.4 million for acquiring and clearing the site and for constructing the new building. The foundations were completed in December 1930, and the building was accepted for occupancy in April 1933.[4]
The site of the building had previously been occupied by theButler Building, which was the headquarters of theUnited States Public Health Service, and theRichards Building, the headquarters of theUnited States Coast and Geodetic Survey, which both were demolished.[5][6]
The large assembly room of the Longworth Building, which seats 450 people, was designated as the meeting room for the House Ways and Means Committee in 1938.[7] It was also used by the House of Representatives as their primary meeting room in 1949 and 1950 while its chamber in theUnited States Capitol was being remodeled. In the 1960s, the House Beauty Shop, a salon which catered to Members of Congress, their spouses, and employees, was relocated to the Cannon House Office Building from the smaller Longworth House Office Building under the auspices of theBeauty Shop Committee.[8] During the period prior to the passing of theTax Reform Act of 1986,The Washington Post reported that the "long, polished hallway outside 1100 Longworth" had become "known among this subculture of Washington as'Gucci Gulch,' nicknamed for the high-priced footwear of tax lobbyists who camped out regularly during the 1986 tax debate."[1]
