Public Health Service (Department of the Interior South Building)
This notable example of Federal office construction during the 1930s was built as the first headquarters of the United States Public Health Service.
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The U.S. Public Health Building, now the Department of the Interior South building, was built as the first headquarters of the U.S. Public Health Service. The building is set back from Constitution Ave on a raised terrace, with its primary elevation facing Constitution Avenue, approached by a formal walkway that leads to the main building entrance and crosses a lawn terrace slope that continues around the east and west sides of the building.
Although its name and purpose has changed, the building retains much of the same architectural fabric that characterized it when it was constructed in 1933. Ceiling heights and lighting in the main corridors have changed, which included adding a dropped ceiling with fluorescent fixtures. In the elevator lobbies on each floor, partition walls and doors have been added to separate the lobby from corridors. Despite these changes, the Interior Department South building retains a high level of historic integrity in its public spaces and exterior arrangement.
DC Inventory: April 26, 2007
National Register: July 5, 2007
