Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, DC

Project Description

Budget was awarded a contract by GSA for facilities maintenance of a historic building in Washington, DC. On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, creating a program to provide Americans with continuing income after retirement. Planning for a new headquarters building for the Social Security Board began immediately, and a site in southwest Washington, near the U.S. Capitol, was selected. Construction was completed in 1940. Facing the National Mall in the southwest quadrant of Washington, the monumental Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building represents the government’s sweeping endeavor to house agencies expanded or created under the New Deal. The building sits on a rectangular site bounded by Independence Avenue and Fourth, C, and Third streets. Immediately across C Street to the south is the Mary E. Switzer Federal Building, which was constructed for the Railroad Retirement Board in conjunction with the Cohen Building.