Chronology of Construction and Historical Events






1800
Construction of 
first pair of office buildings designed by George Hadfield for State, 
War, Navy, and Treasury departments on sites flanking White 
House.
 




1814
Executive office buildings 
and White House partially burned by British troops in War of 
1812.




1869
Commission formed to 
recommend a site for combined State, War, and Navy Building and to 
procure designs and cost estimates.




1870
Single new building on 
site of old War and Navy Department 
buildings proposed by Grant administration to house State, War, and Navy 
Departments. Design by Alfred B. Mullett accepted.




1871
Congress approves project 
and initial appropriation; ground broken for construction of south wing 
(State Department)




1879
Individual telephone service 
available for State and Navy Departments.




1884
Conference establishing 
International Dateline and Greenwich Mean Time held in State 
Department.




1888
West and center wings 
completed.




1893
First light bulb used in 
building.




1896
Theodore Roosevelt appointed 
Assistant Secretary of the Navy under John D. Long. Holds office in Room 
278, State, War, and Navy Building (SWN).




1898
In room 208, SWN, 
Secretary of State John Hay hands the Spanish Ambassador his passport 
and credentials, thus signifying United States declaration of war 
against Spain.




1913
Gas removed and first 
electric system installed throughout the building.




1918
Navy Department vacates 
SWN.




1924
The "Round the World Flyers" 
decorated by Secretary of War Dwight Davis.




1930
SWN renamed the 
Department of State Building.




1939
Bureau of Budget moves in 
from Treasury.




1941
In room 208, Cordell Hull 
confronts Japanese envoys with evidence of the bombing of Pearl 
Harbor.




1947
State Department vacates 
building.




1949
State Department Building 
renamed Executive Office Building.




1950
First presidential press 
conference in Indian Treaty Room.




1971
Executive Office Building 
placed on the National Register of Historic Places.




1972
Executive Office Building 
registered as landmark property on the District of Columbia Inventory of 
Historic Sites.




1983
Historic Restoration of the 
Old Executive Office Building to its appearance at time of completion 
begins.