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Fast Facts for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building1

Fast Facts:
Architectural Style French Second Empire
Construction Dates 1871 - 1888 (17 years total)
Supervising Architects Alfred Mullett (1869-1874), William Potter (1875-1875), Orville Babcock (1875-1877), Thomas Lincoln Casey (1877-1888)
Chief Designer Richard von Ezdorf
Total Cost 10,038,482.42

Building Size:
Total Building Area 662,598 GSF (15.21 acres or 11 1/2 football fields)
Net Assignable Floor Area 296,895 SF (6.82 acres or 5 football fields)
Number of Levels 7 (Basement, Ground, and Levels 1 through 5).
North or South Façade Length 285'-10.75" (87.14 meters)
East or West Façade Length 523'-2.75" (159.48 meters)
Courtyard Dimensions 103'-5 9/16" by 139'-1 7/8" (31.54 meters by 42.41 meters)
Height of east and west center pavilions 134'-7" above pavement (41 meters)
Number of Rooms 553
Exterior Columns 900
Interior Doors 1,314
Exterior Windows 1,572
Bronze Stair Balusters 4,004
East, West, or Center Corridor Length 404'-5.75" on centerline (123.28 meters)
North or South Corridor Length 166'-6.5" on centerline (50.76 meters)
Corridor Length on One Floor 1,308'-7" or one-quarter of a mile (399 meters)
Total Corridor Length on All Floors 9,160'-1" or 1.73 miles (2.793 kilometers)

Materials:
  • Building supported by continuous spread footings of unreinforced hydraulic concrete installed on compacted clay, which are 4' deep and between 9' and 10' wide
  • Granite from Fox Islands, Maine used for courtyard walls and Basement and Ground floor exterior walls
  • Granite from Richmond, Virginia used for the exterior walls on floors 1 - 5
  • Exterior walls are 3'-10" thick and 2'-10' thick between the window piers
  • Exterior cast iron used for window frames, sculpture, 30 chimneys, cornices, and roof trim
  • Interior cast iron used for columns, pilasters, wall and floor panels, library bookshelves, and decorative trim
  • Interior corridor bearing walls are 1'-10" thick of brick and plaster
  • White marble floor tiles are from Vermont; Black floor tiles are limestone from New York
  • 8 granite staircases cantilevered from the wall are anchored 14" to 16" into the wall
  • 74 marble or wood fireplaces originally used as decorative ventilation features not for heat

First Facts:
1875 First hydraulic lift elevator installed in an U. S. government building (in the Department of State wing).
1879 First telephone and telegraph lines installed in the building by the Army Signal Corps.
c. 1890 First light bulb used in the south wing in the State Department Diplomatic Reception Room.
1899 Considering it a threat to employment, the building’s cleaning women stage a successful strike against the Superintendent’s plan to use a mechanical scrubber (roughly a bicycle with two rotary brushes) which enabled 2 or 3 women to do the work of 8 to 12.
1955 First televised press conference ever made by a president (Eisenhower) occurs in room 474 on January 19.

1. H.R. Executive Document 337, 50th Congress, 1st Session, 1888.
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Eisenhower Executive Office Building