Switzer Memorial Building: Kittredge Reliefs - Washington DC

State:: WASHINGTON-DC
Site Type:: Art Works, Sculpture and Bas Relief
New Deal Agencies:: Treasury Department, Arts Programs, Federal & Military Operations, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
Artist:: Robert Kittredge
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

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.

The RRB/Switzer building is smaller and its ornamentation is simpler than that of the SSA/Cohen building. Its only artworks are the granite bas-reliefs over the entrances by Robert Kittredge, “Railroad Employment” and “Railroad Retirement” (both 1941). These works were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

Both the Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board had to give way to the War Department as the first tenants of the twin buildings in 1941. After the war, the buildings passed to the Federal Security Administration (FSA), which in turn became the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) in 1953. The old RRB building became known as HEW-South.

The building was designated the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building in 1972 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.