Evening star., 1942-04-05
Sections of New War Building
Ready for Use Next Month
Officials Soon to Pick First Occupants
For Worlds Largest Office Structure

In one Of the swiftest construction
jobs on record, an army Of workers
seemingly imbued with a spirit of
accomplishment is nearing compile
ton of the first sections of the
enormous War Department Office
building in nearby Arlington-less
than seven months since ground
was first broken.
Sometime next month, contractors
for "the worlds largest Office build
ing" expect to have a considerable
amount of Office and storage space
ready to turn over to the War
Department and by November they
hope that the entire structure-pro-
viding more ONCE space than the
102-story Empire State Building
will be finished.
A project Of such proportions nor
mally would require three years to
complete, but 1t is scheduled to be
finished in a little more than one
year.
Storage and Office Space.
At the start 1t was planned TO
have 100000 square feet Of storage
space ready by May. 1t is under
stood now that. in addition to the
storage space, some office space also
will be ready by that time.
The structure. located on a tract
of $40 acres originally intended for
the quartermaster depot now being
built near Alexandria, Is In the
shape of a regular pentagon-con-
sisting of five pentagonal rings"
Of buildings erected around large
inner court. The sides or sections
are designated as A, B. c, D and E
and the construction work Is pro-
ceeding in alphabetical order.
This has produced an oddity.
Workers find themselves starting
and finishing the building at the
same time. They're putting the
finishing touches on Section A, but
Section z Is just underway.
Controversy Recalled.
The size. design and location Of
the big ofice building received the
personal attention of President
Roosevelt last fall after the War De-
partment precipitated a contro-
versy by disclosing plans to erect a
S35 100000 structure to house ap-
proximately 10000 workers on the
Arlington Experimental Farm. After
a prolonged fight. led by the Ma
tional Capital Park and Planning
Commission. the Fine Arts Com
mission, architects, civic groups and
others, the President ordered the
size of the building reduced by one
fifth, and Army officials redesigned
the structure to accommodate 90
600 employees.
Although the cost of the rede-
signed building then was estimated
at about s3l000.000. 1t was pointed
out at that time that the ultimate
cost probably would be more be-
cause of the shift in sites when the
location was changed from the Ex-
perimental Farm-at the gate Of
Arlington Cemetery-to the quar-
termaster depot site, it was found
the land would have to be drained
and concrete piles installed as a
foundation
$4,000 Pile Foundation.
The Experimental Farm offered
an ideal sand and gravel foundation
but the new location was partly
swampland and this had to be
drained. Then $4,000 piles, con-
sisting of light iron casing filled with
concrete, were provided as a founda-
ton, and about $4,000 of these have
been sunk.
Originally, the Office building was
to have a gross area of 5000 900
square feet, with 100000 square
feet being usable for ONCE space.
When the size was ordered reduced,