{"nrhp_refnum":"11000211","name":"Federal Office Building","other_names":["J.J. \"Jake\" Pickle Federal Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"300 E 8th St","address_restricted":false,"city":"Austin","county":"Travis County","state":"TX","lat":30.26934045300004,"lon":-97.73905780199999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-04-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A nine-story concrete federal office building at 300 East 8th Street in downtown Austin, Travis County, Texas, completed in 1964 and designed by Page Southerland Page and Brooks & Barr for the U.S. General Services Administration.","why_significant":"The western half of the ninth floor served as a presidential office suite for Lyndon Baines Johnson from 1965 to 1969, and he used it again until 1971. The suite hosted national policy discussions, including a December 6, 1966 meeting that set a U.S. policy of negotiating with the Soviet Union on nuclear weapons and anti-ballistic missile systems. The building is listed under Criteria A and B and Criteria Consideration G.","narrative":"Completed in 1964 in downtown Austin, this nine-story concrete office building at 300 East 8th Street was designed by the local firms Page Southerland Page and Brooks & Barr for the U.S. General Services Administration. Its New Formalist exterior features a grid of precast concrete window surrounds, polished granite at ground level, and a rectangular form set on a podium-like base. Its importance lies mainly in the interior. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson took over the western half of the ninth floor as a local office, with private quarters, an executive office and a press room. Bullet-proof window glass and higher-quality finishes set the suite apart. Johnson used it during his presidency and afterward, through 1971, while planning his presidential library and writing his memoirs. A December 1966 meeting there shaped American policy toward negotiating nuclear weapons limits with the Soviet Union. The building still serves as federal offices. A rooftop helipad was removed in the 1980s, and in 2000 the building was renamed for Congressman J. J. Pickle.","period_of_significance":"1965-1971","architect_builder":"Page Southerland Page; Brooks and Barr (architects); More, Gail Linkey (designer, presidential suite interior)","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: New Formalism","criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Still used as government offices; the ninth-floor presidential suite area retains original finishes, while the rooftop helipad and its elevator were removed in the 1980s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.929586-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/35/9738/40973835/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/11000211.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000211/904b22eb49-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000211/904b22eb49-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"LoneStarMike","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JJPickleFederalBldg-2010b.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">LoneStarMike</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JJPickleFederalBldg-2010b.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973835","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.J._Pickle_Federal_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106900840"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/travis-county/federal-office-building-11000211/"}