U.S. Civil Service Commission Building Washington, District of Columbia

Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.

The U.S. Civil Service Commission Building is emblematic of the growth and status attained by the important Progressive Era agency in the three decades following its establishment in 1883. During its two decades at the 1724 F Street, NW headquarters, the Commission was instrumental in the enactment of laws and policies protecting the rights of federal employees and in rationalizing federal administrative structure and procedures. The U.S. Civil Service Commission Building is significant as a rare example of a federal building designed and constructed outside of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury and the provisions of the Tarsney Act (1893-1912) during a major early twentieth-century federal building campaign. Moreover, the building is significant as an early and unusual example of a federal building erected through a construct-to-lease arrangement with a private developer. The U.S. Civil Service Commission Building is a notable example of the Italian Renaissance Revival architectural style applied to a commercial office building form as designed by prominent Washington, D.C. architect Appleton P. Clark, Jr. The federal building's significance falls under both National Register Criterion A (properties that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history) and Criterion C (properties that embody a distinctive characteristic of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master).