21 Pentagon Building Facts: Secrets, Mysteries & Many More!

The Pentagon Building is the building for the Department of Defense of the United States of America.

It is situated in Arlington, Virginia, which is near to Washington DC. George Bergstrom and David J. Witmer were the main architects behind this entire unique design building.

The construction began during and under the leadership of President Roosevelt. The construction started on September 11, 1941 and was done by January 15, 1943 and cost $83 million.

In its 78 years of existence, it had undergone a massive renovation that lasted for 17 long years. The Pentagon can accommodate quite a huge population.

Approximately 24,000 military employees are there, along with 3,000 non-defense employees. Inside the Pentagon, there is a room dedicated to the brave people to honor them for their services and for those who received the Medal of Honor.

This is the highest award one can ever receive during their lifetime for his or her bravery in the USA. This room is called the Hall of Heroes.

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Layout And Departments Of Pentagon Building

The Pentagon Building has a total of seven floors. And it measures about 6.5 million sq ft (6 million sq. m.).

These five floors are situated above the ground. There are two more levels or stories which are situated below the ground. In total, the corridors measure 17.5 mi (28.2 km).

Each floor has a five-ring corridor. The height of this building is 77 ft (23.5 m), and the length of the walks is 921 ft (280.7 m) each. The walls of the Pentagon are primarily made up of limestone.

The Pentagon consists of one dining area, 284 rooms, 17 restaurants, six cafeterias, several libraries, and eight fast-food bars. Along with these, there is a huge parking lot, a shopping center, 28 restrooms, and several other facilities, including a heliport and subway.

There are many Pentagon grounds, but Zero Ground has a nickname because it was usually targeted by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Zero ground is known as the Central Plaza, which measures 5 acres (20,234.3 sq m).

In the Pentagon Building, the entire Department of Defense is present, which includes all three military services that are the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force. The Pentagon is one of the largest office space or defense buildings any country has.

History Of Pentagon Building

During World War II, when it was highly anticipated that the US would be drawn into the War, the United States War Department was forced to look for a better space that could accommodate the rapid expansion of the Department of Defense.

This shortage of space occurred because until then (during World War I), the US Department of War had no united building for its operation.

It was spread across many temporary buildings, with its headquarters in the Munition Buildings.

In order to solve this problem, a new war department building was constructed, but this did not solve the problem. Hence, later on, it was used by the Department of State.

Finally, Henry L Stimson, the Secretary of War, went to the then President in May 1941 asking for a solution to this 'space' problem.

Later that year, in the month of July, a Congress hearing was organized in which accepted the proposal was made by congressmen Clifton Woodrum, and it was decided that instead of creating another temporary building for the space problem, a permanent solution was to be taken.

And so, the senior officials like general Brehon Somervell were given the responsibility.

Construction Of Pentagon Building

The pentagon, as evident from its name, is a building constructed in a pentagonal shape.

The chief architect of this huge project was George Bergstrom, but due to some charges leveled against him unrelated to the project, he resigned on April 11, 1942. He was replaced by David J Witmer.

Contractors hired for the construction work included John McShain, Inc of Philadelphia, and a few more. This was planned to be constructed across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia.

Arlington Farms was the original site for the construction of this building. And as the area was roughly pentagonal in shape, the building was designed in a pentagon shape.

But later on, President Roosevelt ordered a change in the location of construction, and on September 2, the Hoover Airport site was chosen.

He did this change taking into consideration the view of the Washington DC from the Arlington Cemetery. At this time, the change in the basic plan was too expensive; hence the basic plan remained the same, but the irregular pentagon design was changed to a regular pentagon.

The terrain chosen was uneven and not suitable for constructing a building of this stature. This particular problem was overcome by dumping 5.5 million cu yd (4.2 million cu m) on the swampy grounds to stabilize it.

The entire initial drawings were done by the end of the year 1941. And some of the requirements of this building were a maximum limit of five stories tall, and with the use of minimum steel, this was accomplished by making the building over a huge area of land with a huge 5 acres (20,234.3 sq m) center courtyard.

This five-sided building consists of numerous offices, cafeterias, storages, banks, subways, bus stands. On January 15, 1943 the construction of the Pentagon was completed. It approximately required 16 months to get completed as the army base for the US soldiers.

Till 1965 the Pentagon remained the only building in Virginia with no segregation law.

US Army General Leslie R.Groves, who spearheaded The Manhattan Project, the first US-based nuclear weapon (atomic bomb) making program or project, oversaw the construction of the Pentagon during World War II.

Renovation Of Pentagon Building

The Renovation of the Pentagon was a long-term project for the United States and its Defense department and Pentagon employees. This renovation project was named the Phoenix Project. It almost took two or more decades to get renovated.

The project started during the '90s, and was winded up sometime during June 20211. During the '90s, the renovation became very urgent because a major portion of it was ravaged.

After it was made in the '40s, the Pentagon had not gone under any big renovation. And henceforth it needed a complete replacement so that new technologies could be accommodated in there.

The renovation cost around $4.5 billion. During the renovation, the metro entrance facility was removed from the main building to create more security.

During this renovation period, on September 11, 2001 terrorists had hijacked American airlines and attacked the southwest side of the Pentagon. This attack reported 189 casualties, and it included the terrorists as well.

In 2011, the renovation was finally finished, and the displaced employees of the Department of Defense like the army corps, marine corps, and coast guard had returned to this historic Pentagon building. A memorial stands at the western side of the building commemorating those killed in the 9/11 attack.

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