Roosevelt Hall (National War College)
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Beaux Arts
National War College Roosevelt Hall | |
 Roosevelt Hall at Fort Lesley J. McNair, which houses the National War College | |
    | |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
|---|---|
| Built | 1903–07 |
| Architect | McKim, Mead, and White |
| Architectural style | Neo-Classical; Beaux Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 72001535[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 28, 1972 |
| Designated DCIHS | November 8, 1964 |
Roosevelt Hall is an immense Beaux Arts-style building housing the National War College on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., United States. The original home of the Army War College (1907–1946), it was built between 1903 and 1907 to designs by McKim, Mead & White, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark since 1972.
Expansions and renovations
Roosevelt Hall was originally built as the central focus of enormous complex envisioned by President Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary of War Elihu Root to house a General Staff School for senior U.S. Army officers. The historic Washington Arsenal (which became Fort McNair in 1948) was selected as the site. Between 1901 and 1903, the early 19th-century arsenal buildings were razed to make way for the projected complex. As many as fifty additional buildings were envisioned, including barracks, mess halls, and faculty quarters, but only Roosevelt Hall was completed and the ambitious plan was never realized in its entirety. The cornerstone for Roosevelt Hall was laid on February 21, 1903, and on June 30, 1907, the building was occupied for the first time.
Roosevelt Hall housed the Army War College (AWC) from 1907 to 1946 when that institution moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (and a year later to Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania). Since 1946, it has housed the National War College (NWC), a training and doctrine institution embracing all branches of the armed forces, as well as the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency. The role of the NWC closely parallels that of the AWC, but on a broader, multi-service basis.
Additional subterranean office space was excavated in the 1960s beneath the front (north) terrace of Roosevelt Hall so as not to affect the structure's exterior. The two main interior spaces have for the most part remained undisturbed over a century.
