Rayburn House Office Building

Description

The Rayburn House Office Building 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 former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. It was completed in 1965 and at 2.375 million square feet is the largest congressional office building and the newest House office building .HistoryRayburn was completed in early 1965 and is home to the offices of 169 Representatives.Earlier efforts to provide space for the House of Representatives had included the construction of the Cannon House Office Building and the Longworth House Office Building. In March 1955, House Speaker Sam Rayburn introduced an amendment for a third House office building, although no site had been identified, no architectural study had been done, and no plans prepared.The area west of the Longworth Building on squares 635 and 636 was chosen, with the main entrance on Independence Avenue and garage and pedestrian entrances on South Capitol Street, C Street, and First Street Southwest. The cornerstone was laid in May 1962, and full occupancy began in February 1965.