{"nrhp_refnum":"100009350","name":"Pentagon, The (Boundary Increase)","other_names":["Pentagon Office Building Complex"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Washington Blvd. (VA 27), Richmond Hwy. (VA 110), Shirley Hwy. (I 395)","address_restricted":false,"city":"Arlington","county":"Arlington County","state":"VA","lat":null,"lon":null,"geom_source":null},"listed_date":"2023-09-11","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1992-10-05","areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Engineering","Military","Architecture","Politics/Government","Other"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Pentagon is a massive five-sided office building complex in Arlington, Virginia, built from August 1941 to January 1943 as a military headquarters. The nominated elements are its five outer facades, central courtyard, two entrance terraces and its pentagonal shape.","why_significant":"The text provided is mostly the description section, and the statement of significance is truncated. The form describes the building as a leading example of Stripped Classicism, a blend of Classical and Modern design used in many Federal buildings from the 1930s to 1950s. It also notes the building's construction in 17 months during World War II as a remarkable feat of civil engineering, and its design by architects Bergstrom and Witmer.","narrative":"Covering 29 acres, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, is the largest office building in the world by ground area. Built between August 1941 and January 1943, it was conceived to house the many command functions of a rapidly expanding military. Architects George Edwin Bergstrom and David J. Witmer designed it as a regular pentagon with five concentric rings of offices around a five-acre courtyard. Its limestone-faced concrete exterior follows Stripped Classicism, with simplified Tuscan-style colonnades, a plain entablature and little ornament. President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed that limestone be used instead of marble. The nominated elements are the original outer facades, the central courtyard, the terraces fronting the Mall and River entrances, and the distinctive five-sided form. Interiors have been heavily remodelled since the 1940s, but the exterior facades keep their original appearance. The building was finished in just 17 months, and about 33,000 people worked there at its wartime peak.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"George Edwin Bergstrom and David J. Witmer, co-chief architects of the U.S. War Department; conceived by General Brehon B. Somervell","architectural_style":"Modern Movement / Stripped Classicism","criteria":[],"status_note":"Currently in use as a government office and military facility; exterior facades retain original appearance while interiors have been extensively remodelled. Condition marked good and occupied on the older form.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.855375-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/91/6789/41678991/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/89000932_NHL.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678991","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/arlington-county/pentagon-the-boundary-increase-100009350/"}