The Pentagon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. For the geometric figure, see Pentagon. For other uses, see Pentagon (disambiguation).
| The Pentagon | |
|---|---|
The Pentagon in January 2008
| |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Architectural style | Classical revival |
| Location | Arlington County, Virginia |
| Address | 1400 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1400 |
| Coordinates | 38.87099°N 77.05596°W |
| Construction started | September 11, 1941 |
| Completed | January 15, 1943 |
| Cost | $83 million ($1.33 billion in 2014 dollars[1]) |
| Owner | United States Department of Defense |
| Height | |
| Roof | 77 feet 3.5 inches (23.559 m) |
| Top floor | 5 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 7 |
| Floor area | 6,636,360 square feet(620,000 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | George Bergstrom David J. Witmer |
| Main contractor | John McShain, Inc. |
| Other information | |
| Parking | 67 acres |
| References | |
Pentagon Office Building Complex
| |
| Location | Jefferson Davis Hwy./VA 110 at I-395, Arlington, Virginia |
| Area | 41 acres (17 ha) |
| Built | 1941 |
| Architect | Bergstrom, G.E.; Witmer, D.J. |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival, Modern Movement, Stripped Classicism |
| Governing body | Federal |
| NRHP Reference # | 89000932[2] |
| VLR # | 000-0072 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 27, 1988 |
| Designated VLR | April 18, 1989[3] |
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Pentagon was designed by American architect George Bergstrom (1876–1955), and built by general contractorJohn McShain of Philadelphia. Ground was broken for construction on September 11, 1941, and the building was dedicated on January 15, 1943. General Brehon Somervell provided the major motive power behind the project;[4]Colonel Leslie Groves was responsible for overseeing the project for the U.S. Army.
The Pentagon is a large office building, with about 6,500,000 sq ft (600,000 m2), of which 3,700,000 sq ft (340,000 m2) are used as offices.[5][6] Approximately 23,000 military and civilian employees[6] and about 3,000 non-defense support personnel work in the Pentagon. It has five sides, five floors above ground, two basement levels, and five ring corridors per floor with a total of 17.5 mi (28.2 km)[6] of corridors. The Pentagon includes a five-acre (20,000 m2) central plaza, which is shaped like a pentagon and informally known as "ground zero," a nickname originating during the Cold War on the presumption that it would be targeted by the Soviet Union at the outbreak of nuclear war.[7]
On September 11, 2001, exactly 60 years after the building's groundbreaking, American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and flown into the Western side of the building, killing 189 people.[8] It was the first significant foreign attack on the capital's government facilities since the Burning of Washington during the War of 1812
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