Charles Z. Klauder Sites

The Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building was built 1938-40 as the home of the Social Security Administration, one of the major new programs of the New Deal. The building was funded and constructed in conjunction with the Railroad Retirement Board headquarters, now the Mary E. Switzer building.  The two buildings stand across C street from each other.  They were the first federal buildings south of the Mall. As soon as President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law in 1935, planning began for a new headquarters building for the Social Security Administration (SSA).  Then, when Congress funded the...

The Mary E. Switzer Building was originally built for the Railroad Retirement Board in 1940. The building was constructed in conjunction with the original Social Security headquarters, now the Wilbur J. Cohen building.  The two stand across C street from each other.  They were the first federal buildings constructed south of the Mall.   The Railroad Retirement Board (RBB), formed in 1934, was a precursor to the Social Security Act in 1935.  Its responsibilities and funds grew with additional legislation in 1935 and 1937, providing taxes to support railway worker pensions. As plans were underway for the headquarters of Social Security, the...

Built in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the University's Henderson Building houses the Museum of Natural History.  The building cost nearly $200,000 to build, including furnishings.  In 1951, the building was named in honor of Judge Junius Henderson, appointed curator of the university museum in 1903.  The original layout of the building included archeology and biology halls on the ground floor, an art gallery and geology hall on the main floor; classrooms on the second floor; and laboratories, storerooms, and a darkroom on the top floor. The building is a representative work of noted architect Charles Z. Lauder, who designed...