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Roosevelt Hall | |
 Roosevelt Hall on Fort McNair houses the National War College (1972) | |
   | |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
|---|---|
| Built | 1903–07 |
| Architect | McKim, Mead, and White |
| Architectural style | Neo-Classical; Beaux Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 72001535[1] |
| Added to NRHP | November 28, 1972 |
Roosevelt Hall (1903–1907) is an immenseBeaux Arts-style building housing theNational War College onFort Lesley J. McNair,Washington, D.C., United States. The original home of theArmy War College (1907–1946), it has been listed on theNational Register of Historic Places as aNational Historic Landmark since 1972.
Roosevelt Hall was originally built as the central focus of enormous complex envisioned by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt andSecretary of WarElihu Root to house a General Staff School for senior U.S. Army officers. The historicWashington Arsenal (which became Fort McNair in 1948) was selected as the site. Between 1901 and 1903, the early 19th-century arsenal buildings were razed to make way for the projected complex. As many as fifty additional buildings were envisioned, including barracks, mess halls, and faculty quarters, but only Roosevelt Hall was completed and the ambitious plan was never realized in its entirety. The cornerstone for Roosevelt Hall was laid on February 21, 1903, and on June 30, 1907, the building was occupied for the first time.
Roosevelt Hall housed theArmy War College (AWC) from 1907 to 1946 when that institution moved toFort Leavenworth, Kansas (and a year later toCarlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania). Since 1946, it has housed theNational War College (NWC), a training and doctrine institution embracing all branches of the armed forces, as well as theDepartment of State and theCentral Intelligence Agency. The role of the NWC closely parallels that of the AWC, but on a broader, multi-service basis.
Additional subterranean office space was excavated in the 1960s beneath the front (north) terrace of Roosevelt Hall so as not to affect the structure's exterior. The two main interior spaces have for the most part remained undisturbed over a century.
Roosevelt Hall was designed by the noted New York architectural firmMcKim, Mead and White in theNeoclassical orBeaux Arts style.
The Neo-Classical style building is constructed of redbrick withgranite trim. It faces north onto a quarter-mile longgreensward while the building's rear elevation overlooks thePotomac. The ground plan of Roosevelt Hall is oriented on a cross-axis formed by the intersection of adomed centralpavilion andwings extending laterally to the east and west, each consisting of 12 bays. The main pavilion ispedimented and, on the north (main) facade, is distinguished by a tall archedloggia featuring adistyle in antisIonic screen. (This is a motif also employed in the east and westgable ends of the building.) Surmounting theentablature of this columnar screen, in each instance, is a symbolic sculptedeagle.
Acroteria adorn the long, slate-covered ridge roof. The third floor is aclerestory, with four great arched clerestory openings in the form ofthermal windows rising above theentablature of thepilastered, two-story wing elevations on both front and back. At the central pavilion, a two-story windowless, pilastered,vaultlessapse projects from the south (back) elevation.
It was originally intended that the stepped terraces on the north side of Roosevelt Hall would include impressive statuary of great warriors. Podia for statues were constructed, but they were never installed, except for one ofFrederick the Great, a gift of theGerman government soon after the completion of the edifice. Anti-German sentiment at the time ofWorld War I forced its removal.
The central feature of the interior is a three-story, marble-flooredrotunda, encircled on the upper levels bybalustradedgalleries. An innersaucer dome of vaulted brick covers the rotunda and terminates in anoculus through which a large metalchandelier is suspended from the outer dome. Contrasting with the severe white walls of the space are exposed brick structural members: pilasters and segmentally-arched brick vaulting supporting the galleries. Between two of the brick pilasters is a large marble plaque commemorating the efforts of Secretary of War Root in the establishment of the AWC. Flanking the plaque are portraits of Roosevelt and Secretary of WarHenry Stimson. Additional portraits and busts of prominent American military figures also adorn the rotunda.
The east wing was extensively modernized in the mid-20th century and contains classrooms ranged along a central corridor at all three main levels. The entire west wing of the structure is devoted to the extensive library of the NWC. Stack space consists of five metal balconies, connected by bridges at the upper levels and bisected by a central corridor. At the far end of this long, vaulted room is a reading area. The ground story houses more office and classroom space. The south side of the rotunda, in the central apse (bowed extension), is a lecture chamber.
38°51′47″N77°01′01″W / 38.8631°N 77.0170°W /38.8631; -77.0170
