Flickr - USCapitol - Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building

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Courtyard of the Thurgood Marshall Building

The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building (TMFJB) houses offices that support the work of the United States Courts, including the

Administrative Office of the United States Courts The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system, established in 1939. The central support entity for the federal judicial branch, the AO provides a wide range of l ...

, the

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of respo ...

, the

United States Sentencing Commission The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for articulating the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the federal courts. The Commission promulgate ...

, and the Office of the Clerk of the

Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (J.P.M.L. or the Panel) is a special body within the United States federal court system which manages multidistrict litigation. It was established by Congress in 1968 by , and has th ...

. The building was named after

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

, the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

justice of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. It is under the jurisdiction of the

Architect of the Capitol The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is the federal agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex. It is an agency of the legislative branch of the federal government and is ...

as part of the United States Capitol Complex. It is located at One Columbus Circle NE in Washington D.C. adjacent to

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

, a few blocks from the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

. It was completed in 1992 and was designed by architecture firm

Edward Larrabee Barnes Edward Larrabee Barnes (April 22, 1915 – September 22, 2004) was an American architect. His work was characterized by the "fusing fModernism with vernacular architecture and understated design." Barnes was best known for his adherence to st ...

and partner John Ming Yee Lee. It features a dramatic five-story tall glass atrium at its main entrance with a signature indoor

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

forest. A jury unanimously selected the firm of Barnes/Lee & Partners as the architects and Boston Properties as the developer. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist approved the selection on January 13, 1989. The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building is an administrative center for the federal court system located next to Union Station. Its construction completed the Columbus Circle area and was considered a long overdue addition to the Washington DC's

and post office.

Financing

By the terms of the innovative financing package, the Architect of the Capitol, George White, agreed to lease the site and finished building to the developer for thirty years, at which time it would revert to the government at no cost. Rents would be used to amortize the privately raised debt. Not since the 1790s, when the board of commissioners attempted to finance the Capitol and White House through the sale of city lots, had such unconventional financing been tried on a federal construction project. Unlike the commissioners' bungled efforts, however, this financing scheme proved entirely satisfactory.

References

External links

Overview
from the

Edward Larrabee Barnes
Buildings of the United States government in Washington, D.C. Office buildings in Washington, D.C. Capitol Hill Government buildings completed in 1992 Edward Larrabee Barnes buildings Thurgood Marshall {{WashingtonDC-struct-stub