Location: 330 C St SW, Washington, DC 20024
Building History
The Mary Switzer Federal Building was designed for the Railroad Retirement Board and completed in 1940. Railroad Retirement Board was established in the 1930s to provide assistance to retired railroad employees. The design scheme was the work of consulting architect Charles Z. Klauder, under the supervision of Louis A. Simon, supervising architect of the Treasury.
The Railroad Retirement Board did not occupy the building upon its 1940 completion, due to World War II. After the war, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare occupied the space. In 1972, the building was renamed in honor of Mary E. Switzer, a career civil servant who had joined HEW in 1953. At the time of her retirement from the position of administrator of the Social and Rehabilitation Service of HEW in 1970, she was the highest ranking woman in the federal government, overseeing an annual budget exceeding $8 billion. The Mary E. Switzer Building was the first federal office building to be named in honor of a woman.
Building Facts
- Construction Dates: 1940
- GSA Building Number: DC0033ZZ
- Landmark Status: Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
U.S. General Services Administration
