"Aerial Perspective Arlington Office Building
for War Department" [The Pentagon]
Architectural design by G. Edwin Bergstrom and David J. Witmer for the
War Department Drawn by T. Stathes, July 31, 1941
Colored pencil on tracing paper, mounted on board
20" x 26" National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Public
Buildings Service
The Pentagon With one of the most recognizable building silhouettes
in the world, the Pentagon came to symbolize modern American military
power. However, it was built to consolidate the scattered parts of the
War Department under one roof, a task that took on urgency as war threatened
to engulf the United States in mid-1941. The challenge of designing the
new building fell to G. Edwin Bergstrom, Chief Consulting Architect for
the War Department, and David J. Witmer. In July 1941 Witmer and Bergstrom
sequestered themselves for a weekend and settled on the basic outlines
of a design. T. Stathes's drawing shows the now familiar five-sided shape
they agreed on; later revisions transformed the building's barracks-like
inner structure into a series of concentric circles. The building's shape,
which echoes the star design of early forts, and its interior courtyard
remained unchanged. Construction began in September 1941. Workers labored
around the clock until it was completed in December 1942.