The congressional office buildings are the

office buildings An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

used by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

to augment the limited space in the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the United States Congress, the United States Congress, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, federal g ...

. The congressional office buildings are part of the Capitol Complex, and are thus under the authority of the

Architect of the Capitol The Architect of the Capitol is the Federal government of the United States, federal Government agency, agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex. It is an agency of t ...

and protected by the

United States Capitol Police The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States an ...

. The office buildings house the individual offices of each

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

and

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

as well as

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

hearing rooms, staff rooms, multiple

cafeteria A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a scho ...

s, and areas for support, committee, and maintenance staff. The congressional office buildings are connected to the Capitol by means of underground

pedestrian tunnels An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of these ...

, some of which are equipped with small railcars shuttling users to and from the Capitol, which together form the Capitol subway system.

Congressional page A page is an occupation in some professional capacity. Unlike traditional pages, who are normally younger males, these pages tend to be older and can be either male or female. Workplace Pages are present in some modern workforces. American tele ...

s are responsible for carrying packages and messages from the two chambers to the buildings. The House of Representatives pages program was discontinued because of some scandals after 180 years in 2011, but the Senate pages system still continues. The three Senate office buildings are along

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the Northwest, Washington, D.C., northwest and Northeast, Washington, D.C., northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and ...

north of the Capitol: *

Russell Senate Office Building The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908 and opened in 1909. It was named for former Senator Richard Russel ...

(RSOB), (built 1903-1908, opened in 1909), named after Senator

Richard Russell Jr. Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (November 2, 1897 – January 21, 1971) was an American politician. A Southern Democrat, he served as the 66th Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933 before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, f ...

(1897-1971), of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in 1972. *

Dirksen Senate Office Building The Dirksen Senate Office Building is the second office building constructed for members and staff of the United States Senate, northeast of the United States Capitol, in Washington, D.C., and was named for the late longtime Minority Leader ...

(DSOB, (built 1956-1958, opened in 1958), Originally known as the new Senate Office Building, renamed later after Senator (and longtime majority / minority leader)

Everett Dirksen Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As P ...

(1896-1969), of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Hart Senate Office Building The Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building is the third U.S. Senate office building, and is located on 2nd Street NE between Constitution Avenue NE and C Street NE, northeast of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., in the United States ...

(HSOB, (built 1971-1980, completed 1982), named for Senator Philip A. Hart (1912-1976) of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

The three major House of Representatives office buildings are along Independence Avenue on the southside of the Capitol: *

Cannon House Office Building The Cannon House Office Building, often called the "Old House Office Building", completed in 1908, is the oldest office building of the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. A significant example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, it ...

(CHOB, built 1904-1908, dedicated 1908), named after longtime Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon (1836-1926), *

Longworth House Office Building The Longworth House Office Building (LHOB) is one of five office buildings used by the United States House of Representatives. The building is located south of the Capitol, bounded by Independence Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, C Street S.E., and So ...

(LHOB, (built 1930-1933, dedicated 1933), named after Speaker

Nicholas Longworth Nicholas Longworth III (November 5, 1869 – April 9, 1931) was an American lawyer and politician who became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he initiated the success ...

(1869-1931), of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Rayburn House Office Building The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street. Rayburn is named after fo ...

(RHOB, built 1962-1965, dedicated 1965), named after Speaker of the House

Sam Rayburn Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (January 6, 1882 – November 16, 1961) was an American politician who served as the 43rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a three-time House speaker, former House majority leader, two-time ...

(1882-1961), of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and is the largest House offices structure. A fourth building, the

Ford House Office Building The Ford House Office Building is one of the five office buildings containing United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives staff in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill. The Ford House Office Building is the only House Off ...

, was recently named for the 38th President

Gerald R. Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

(1913-2006). The building was built 1939, by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(W.P.A.) of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

program during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

under the Roosevelt administration. It was formerly used to house the U.S. Bureau of the Census (part of the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econo ...

), and was then occupied by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI)'s

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...

records. The Ford building sits a few blocks further southwest of the others and the Capitol. Because it was previously named as House Annex-2, it currently houses additional committee staff and administrative offices. A fifth building for House of Representatives staff, the

O'Neill House Office Building The O'Neill House Office Building is an office building in Washington, D.C., that houses offices of both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is named after former United States Representative ( ...

(previously known as the "House Annex-1") was named after former Speaker of the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill (1912-1994), of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The building was demolished in 2002. However, in 2008, Federal Office Building No. 8 (formerly the headquarters of the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

) was renovated, being renamed the replacement

in 2012. The building was transferred from the operations of the federal government's

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

to the office of the

in 2017. It currently houses both House administrative staff as well as some offices shared with the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Im ...

. The U.S. Capitol Complex also includes a Daniel Webster Senate Page Residence dormitory, northeast of the Capitol near the Hart Building for those pages of the program for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The similar companion House of Representatives page program was discontinued in 2011 after 180 years, because of some controversial scandals. There is also a

Capitol Power Plant The Capitol Power Plant is a Fossil-fuel power station, fossil-fuel burning power plant which provides steam and chilled water for the United States Capitol, the United States Supreme Court building, Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and 19 ...

, on the House / southside of the Capitol.

References

See also