In 1941, the future Ford House Office Building—then called Federal Office Building #1—in the lower left of this photograph, was part of a trio of large federal buildings at the southwestern foot of Capitol Hill. The massive construction program it was part of eased Washington, D.C.’s, New Deal–driven space shortage. The Ford Building initially housed the U.S. Census Bureau and eventually the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s fingerprint lab. In 1975, the House took over the vacant structure and gave it a new lease on life and a new name, which honored former Minority Leader and President Gerald Ford.
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