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THE HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING

[image: A portion of the sculpture Mountains and Clouds]

The Third Senate Office Building

Sweeping legislative reorganization during the 1970s expanded the Senate staff and stimulated construction of a third office building, named for Michigan Senator Philip A. Hart. Among other reforms, the Senate authorized the appointment of a minority staff for each committee and assigned senators a staff representative for each committee on which they served. Improved constituent services also increased the personal staffs of senators. Between the opening of the Dirksen Building in 1958 and the completion of the Hart Building in 1982, the number of Senate staff grew from 2,500 to 7,000. As the enlarged staff overflowed the two existing office buildings, the Senate acquired auxiliary space in nearby buildings that had once operated as hotels and apartment houses. It was not uncommon for committees and senators to have their staffs spread among several offices in different buildings.

[image: An aerial view of the Hart Building showing the Dirksen Building attached at the rear of photo.]

When it became apparent that simply extending the Dirksen Building as originally planned would not provide sufficient space for modern legislative business, Congress instead authorized an entirely new building. After interviewing sixteen firms, in 1973 Architect of the Capitol George M. White recommended a design submitted by the San Francisco-based architectural firm of John Carl Warnecke & Associates; it was approved by the Senate Office Building Commission and the Senate Committee on Public Works on August 8, 1974.

Rather than adopt the neoclassical style of the first two office buildings, the architects gave the Hart Building a more distinctly contemporary appearance, although with a marble facade in keeping with its surroundings. The architects sought to design a flexible, energy-efficient building that would accommodate both the expanded staff and the new technology of the modern Senate. The building's design also deliberately spared the adjacent Sewall-Belmont house, a historic structure that serves as headquarters for the National Woman's Party and a museum for the woman suffrage movement. As construction proceeded, however, rapid inflation in the 1970s multiplied costs and caused several modifications of the original plan, most notably the elimination of a rooftop restaurant and a gymnasium.

[image: Exterior view of the Hart Building.]

A Building for the Computer Era

First occupied on November 22, 1982, the Hart Building is the largest of the three Senate office buildings. The nine-story structure provides offices for fifty senators, as well as for three committees and several subcommittees. Two-story duplex suites allow a senator's entire office staff to work in connecting rooms. Where solid walls limited the arrangement of office space in the two older buildings, movable partitions permit reconfiguration of offices in the Hart Building to meet changing needs. Designed for modern telecommunications, removable floor panels permit the laying of telephone lines and computer cables, further aiding the rearrangement of offices as computers rapidly alter staff functions. On the building's roof, microwave satellite dishes expand senators' communication links with the news media in their home states.

[image: The spacious Central Hearing Facility in the Hart Building.]

The large Central Hearing Facility on the second floor of the Hart Building was designed for high-interest events attracting crowds that could not be accommodated in the regular hearing rooms. The facility offered more seating, better acoustics, and movable side panes where television cameras could operate without distracting the participants. Behind the dais where committee members sit, the Senate seal is affixed to a white and gray marble wall, which contrasts with the wood-paneled side walls. The room has become familiar to television viewers as the site of numerous Senate investigations and confirmation hearings.

Situated the furthest from the Capitol, the Hart Building was connected underground to an extension of the existing subway to the Dirksen Building. In 1994 a new train loop was installed that provided more cars and speedier service to handle the increased traffic between the buildings. With wider doors and trains at platform-level, the new system is also fully accessible to the handicapped. In addition, the Hart Building provides three floors of underground parking.

[image: The atrium of the Hart Building with the sculpture Mountains and Clouds by Alexander Calder.]

The Atrium

In contrast to the other Senate office buildings, where offices ringed open courtyards, the Hart Building features a 90-foot-high central atrium. The skylit atrium provides an energy-efficient means of lighting corridors and offices. Walkways bridge the atrium on each floor. Located on either end of the atrium are elevator banks and skylit semicircular staircases.

The centerpiece of the atrium is Alexander Calder's mobile-stabile, Mountains and Clouds. The monumental piece combines black aluminum clouds suspended above black steel mountains, with the tallest peak being 51 feet high. It was one of Calder's last works. The sculptor came to Washington on November 10, 1976 to make the final adjustments to his model, and died later that evening after returning to New York. Budget cuts delayed construction of the sculpture until 1986, when former New Jersey Senator Nicholas E Brady raised private funds to underwrite the installation.

[image: Senator Philip A. Hart.]

Honoring Senator Philip A. Hart

The Senate named its third office building in August 1976 for Senator Philip Hart, a Michigan Democrat with a reputation for political bravery and integrity. Critically ill at the time, Senator Hart, who had served since 1959, was the only one of the three senators so honored to be living at the time an office building was named for him. He died in December 1976. Above the main entrance to the building, an inscription describes Senator Hart as: "A man of incorruptible integrity and personal courage strengthened by inner grace and outer gentleness.... He advanced the cause of human justice, promoted the welfare of the common man and improved the quality of life.... His humility and ethics earned him his place as the conscience of the Senate."

Richard B. Russell Senate Office Building

The oldest Senate Office Building opened in 1909 and for the next half century housed all of the senators and most of the Senate committees. The Senate Caucus Room, its largest chamber, served as the setting for the most famous Senate investigations, from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 to the Watergate hearings in 1973. In 1972 the Senate named the building for Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr., a Democrat from Georgia who had won respect as a "senator's senator."

Everett McKinley Dirksen Senate Office Building

Shortly after World War II the Senate acquired land for a new office building but construction did not begin until 1956. The New Senate Office Building was first occupied in 1958. It specifically provided office space for committees, and its hearing rooms were equipped for television cameras. In 1972 the Senate named the building for former Republican Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois.

Aerial view and atrium photo courtesy Architect of the Capitol other photos from Senate Historical Office

Prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate by the Senate Historical Office
S. Pub. 107-8

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