The exterior of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., on Friday September 16, 2022. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The National Archives Building, home of the United States’ founding documents and federal records, has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
The building located on Constitution Avenue near the National Mall in Washington D.C. received the status on Tuesday, nearly 50 years after it was registered on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a release from the National Archives.
"It is such an honor to receive the National Historic Landmark designation for the National Archives Building," Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan said in a release. "It is a well-deserved distinction for this extraordinary building that is in its own way a treasure, surpassed only by the priceless documents held within it."
The National Archives Budling was completed in the 1930s during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. It was designed by New York-based architect John Russell Pope in the neoclassical style, according to the National Archives website.
Some of the building’s features include 72 Corinthian columns, two bronze doors that weigh over six tons and four sculptures that represent the future, past, heritage and guardianship, the website said.
The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights were placed in the building Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in 1952. The building was renovated in the early 2000s, the release said.
In addition to housing valuable records the National Archives Building offers public research rooms and exhibit spaces.
“It’s one of the first purpose-built archival facilities in the world, and it serves as a symbol of the permanence of the American federal government, its institutions, and democratic access to its records,” National Archives Historian Jessie Kratz said in the release.
The National Park Service Advisory Board voted to recommend the nomination in August in recognition of its architecture and its significance as the first archives built specifically for federal records in the U.S., the release said.
The landmark status includes the building, the 5.2-acre square and green spaces, entrance sculptures and a small garden with a monument stone to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
