Capital One Bank Guy (5:09)

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Podcast Host (5:37)

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Erin Menke (6:15)

Washington D.C. is often referred to as the Halls of Power. That's an easy enough metaphor to understand too. The decisions that govern the United States all get made within the hallways of Washington and its surrounding buildings. Like many capitals across the world, it's expected that this is where power lives in America. Which is why it's so puzzling when official government buildings are absolutely falling apart from neglect. Well, I'd like to tell you about one building in particular that was once referenced as the ugliest building in the world, in spite of it holding immense importance to the US Federal government. That would be the J. Edgar Hoover Building, Pennsylvania Avenue, six and a half blocks away from the White House. It's an imposing concrete structure with enormous square columns and walls of bland inset windows. Designed by the Chicago based architecture firm Murphy and Associates. It's the Platonic ideal of brutalism. And it's served as the FBI headquarters for the last 50 years. And for at least half of that time, the FBI has been trying desperately to to get out of it. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been a pillar of American law enforcement ever since its founding in 1908. There's a self made mythos to its existence, that they're the elite stalwart defenders of the American Constitution from terrorists and foreign influence. And of course, that mythos is hard to square with the really decrepit office building. It was originally designed with a pedestrian observation deck that people could use to survey the surrounding buildings. Of course, when the building first opened in 1975, the observation deck was immediately closed for security concerns and has remained closed for the last half century. For much of the 1970s, the building was a public eyesore. J. Edgar Hoover himself, the FBI director who gave the building its name, was privately disgusted with the design, referring to the building as a monstrosity. He would die three years before it opened. Now, as hideous as it is to much of the general public, the design of the Hoover Building has a very specific aim to project strength and intimidation. Its namesake was a famous and controversial figure for bringing a tough guy attitude to the Justice Department. Cracking down on civil rights figures as much as those suspected of terrorism. The unadorned concrete facade of the building was is a relic of the days when the FBI wanted to be seen as America's secret police. A poignant irony since it was under construction during the Nixon years and opened a year after the President resigned in disgrace because of the Watergate scandal starting in the early 2000s the J. Edgar Hoover Building was more than an eyesore, it was also a safety hazard. Regular inspections of the building determined that the plumbing was out of date, the fire alarms and smoke smoke detectors were in dire need of replacement, and the elevators and air conditioning units were reaching the end of their life cycle. What's more, the concrete that made up the walls themselves was starting to crumble. It got so bad that they had to install a layer of netting outside the building to protect pedestrians from falling chunks of concrete. For over the last decade now, the US Government has been fielding petitions to either renovate the building or or relocate the FBI headquarters altogether. The Great Recession of the late 2000s forced the FBI to put any plans on hold, as the cost of renovating the building could climb as high as a billion dollars at that point, not money that the government had to spare. Throughout the early 2010s, the US government fielded proposals from private sector companies on developing a new headquarters for the FBI. None of these proposals wound up moving forward. At time of this recording, there has been no effective progress on moving the FBI from the decaying concrete shell of a building. The amount of red tape and money required to make that move probably makes it unlikely to happen anytime soon. So if you're ever worried that you're being spied on by government spooks at work, consider that maybe they're just there window shopping Looking for a new office. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the show by visiting curiosities podcast.com this show was created by me, Aaron Manke in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series and television show and you can learn all about it over@theworld of lore.com and until next time, stay curious.

BetterHelp Advertiser (10:57)

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Podcast Host (11:27)

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