This federal building was constructed between 1939 and 1940, using the design of architects Charles Z. Klauder and Louis A. Simon. Although it was intended for the Railroad Retirement Board, its first occupant was the United States Department of War.
On July 28, 1938, Simon and Klauder presented their designs for two buildings to house the Railroad Retirement Board and the Social Security Administration to the United States Commission of Fine Arts, which had the authority to review all new public buildings erected in the District of Columbia. Klauder designed back-to-back buildings, with the Social Security Administration building facing Independence Avenue SW and the Railroad Retirement Board building facing C Street SW. The finished building, in addition to its unusual "fishbone" plan, had elements of both Streamline Moderne and Egyptian Revival in its facade.
Through an Act of Congress, it was renamed the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building on October 21, 1972, becoming the first federal building to be named for a woman.
DC Inventory: April 26, 2007
National Register: July 6, 2007
]]>