Editing J. Edgar Hoover Building (section)

===Design===
The early consensus was that the new FBI building would avoid the block-filling style of box-like architecture advocated by the General Services Administration. Staff at the NCPC advocated an aggregation of smaller, interconnected buildings, while President's Council on Pennsylvania Avenue architectural consultant [[Nathaniel A. Owings]] suggested that small retail shops be incorporated into the ground floor of the building.<ref>Bradley, Wendell P. "FBI Building May Be Giving Ave. New Life." ''Washington Post.'' January 5, 1963.</ref> Staff at the President's Council on Pennsylvania Avenue said the council would "blow its top" if the FBI headquarters design was monolithic.<ref>Clopton, Willard. "Council Held Confident On FBI Building Plan." ''Washington Post.'' January 27, 1963.</ref>

In January 1963, GSA estimated that construction on the building would begin in 1964, and be complete in 1967.<ref name="WhiteBlock" /> In June 1963, GSA hired the firm of [[Charles Murphy (architect)|Charles F. Murphy and Associates]] to assist with the design.<ref name="AaronsGroupHails">Aarons, Leroy F. "Group Hails Design for FBI Offices." ''Washington Post.'' October 2, 1964.</ref><ref name="Combs">Combs, Abbott. "FBI Building Costs Set at $109 Million." ''Washington Post.'' December 11, 1971.</ref> Stanislaw Z. Gladych was the chief architect,<ref name="VonEckardtNewFedStyle">Von Eckardt, Wolf. "New 'Federal' Style Is Emerging For Government Office Buildings." ''Washington Post.'' October 22, 1964.</ref> and [[Carter Manny|Carter H. Manny, Jr.]] was the partner in charge.<ref name="Gapp">Gapp, Paul. "FBI Building—Mediocrity Frames a Macho Image." ''Chicago Tribune.'' January 8, 1978.</ref> Murphy and Associates struggled to meld competing views of what the building should be. The President's Council on Pennsylvania Avenue wanted a building with a pedestrian [[Arcade (architecture)|arcade]] on Pennsylvania Avenue side, and retail shops on the ground level on the other three sides. But the FBI rejected this view, instead advocating a structure which was bomb-proof on the first few stories and which had but a few, tightly secured access points elsewhere. Murphy and Associates initially designed a monumental building. This approach was rejected by GSA for wasting space and because it would draw criticism for its apparent misuse of taxpayer dollars on lavishness. Murphy and Associates next designed a "[[Chicago school (architecture)|Chicago school]]" structure. This was a rectangular building whose front was aligned along an east–west axis rather than Pennsylvania Avenue. This created a strong [[Setback (land use)|setback]] on Pennsylvania Avenue, which the architects turned into a pedestrian plaza. Although this design was largely accepted, the setback was not and the building's south side was again aligned with the avenue. Although the FBI was not extensively interested in the building's architectural design, mid- and low-level managers meddled extensively in the building's details (even while [[Technical drawing#Working drawings|working drawings]] were being completed).<ref name="Gapp" />

With design work still incomplete by April 1964, GSA pushed back the start of construction to 1966.<ref>"FBI Building Bids Seen in '66." ''Washington Post.'' April 21, 1964.</ref> On April 22, GSA announced that, after consulting informally with the NCPC, the FBI building would have two levels. The Pennsylvania Avenue façade would be four to six stories high, while the E Street side would rise to eight or nine stories. The goal was to avoid creating a solid front of monolithic office buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue NW.<ref>"Two Heights Planned for FBI's Home." ''Washington Post.'' April 23, 1964.</ref>

[[File:Elizabeth Ulman Rowe - NCPC.jpg|thumb|Elizabeth Ulman Rowe, chair of the NCPC from 1961 to 1968]]
On October 1, 1964, the NCPC approved the preliminary design of the FBI building.<ref name="AaronsGroupHails" /> During the design phase, the architects discovered that the NCPC supported the FBI's desire for a highly secure building, and this influenced the structure's design significantly.<ref name="Gapp" /><ref name="Huxtable">Huxtable, Ada Louise. "The F.B.I. Building: A Study in Soaring Costs and Capital Views On Beauty." ''New York Times.'' January 24, 1972.</ref> The plans by Murphy and Associates called for an eight-story structure on Pennsylvania Avenue and a 12-story building along E Street. The two buildings were connected by wings along 9th and 10th Streets NW, forming an open-air courtyard in the interior. A portion of these wings would push underground into the hill which rose behind Pennsylvania Avenue. The building was set back {{convert|70|ft|m}} from Pennsylvania Avenue. It also had underground parking accessible from 9th and 10th streets.<ref name="AaronsGroupHails" /> An open deck, designed to allow pedestrians to enter on E Street and stroll along the second floor of the building, existed on the east and west sides of the FBI building.<ref name="Gapp" /> The architects noted that this deck could be extended on the south (Pennsylvania Avenue) side.<ref name="AaronsGroupHails" /> The NCPC voiced only one concern. It worried that the "penthouses" atop the building (which were designed to conceal the [[HVAC]] and elevator equipment) were illegal. The penthouses raised the building's height to {{convert|172|ft|m}}—{{convert|12|ft|m}} higher than permitted by law.<ref name="AaronsGroupHails" />

The [[United States Commission of Fine Arts]] (CFA) reviewed the plans on October 21, 1964.<ref name="VonEckardtNewFedStyle"/><ref>Although the CFA is an advisory body, builders rarely proceeded without its approval. Under the [[Shipstead-Luce Act]] of 1930, however, CFA approval is required for the erection or alteration of any building on Pennsylvania Avenue NW between the US Capitol and White House and any street abutting it. See: Gutheim and Lee, p. 208.</ref> GSA and Murphy and Associates had declined to make the FBI building's plans public prior to this meeting.<ref name="AaronsGroupHails" /> During informal discussions with CFA staff in the initial design phase, the architects learned that the CFA wanted the FBI building to have a powerful base which appeared to anchor it to the earth.<ref name="Gapp" /> Although this was in direct conflict with the open architecture advocated by the President's Council on Pennsylvania Avenue, it was more in line with what the NCPC and FBI wanted. Since it was not clear whether the proposed design that had met with NCPC approval would be accepted by the CFA, the design was confidential so that changes could still be made without the appearance that they had been forced on the architects. The still-incomplete designs unveiled during the CFA meeting now showed a massive, three-story roof deck overhanging the main building on E Street, with glass [[curtain wall (architecture)|curtain wall]]-enclosed walkways connecting the Pennsylvania Avenue building to the 9th and 10th street wings. The trapezoidal interior courtyard was designed to hold sculpture and accommodate public exhibits about the FBI. The façade now exhibited repetitive, angular concrete elements similar to those used by [[Le Corbusier]] in the [[Punjab and Haryana High Court]] in Chandigarh, [[India]]; [[Paul Rudolph (architect)|Paul Rudolph]] in his [[Brutalist architecture|Brutalist]] [[Yale Art and Architecture Building]] at [[Yale University]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]]; and [[Gyo Obata]] in the final design for the [[National Air and Space Museum]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="VonEckardtNewFedStyle" />