The O'Neill House Office Building is an office building in Washington, D.C., that houses offices of both the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and the

Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

. It is named after former United States Congressman from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the ...

Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. and located at 200 C Street Southwest in the

Southwest Federal Center Southwest Federal Center is a business district in Southwest Washington, D.C., nearly entirely occupied by offices for various branches of the U.S. Government, including many of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution. Southwest Federal ...

district, at the foot of

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

Location

The O'Neill building is in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Federal Center area, which began to take shape in the 1950s as part of an

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

project that included destruction of multiple square miles of residences and buildings that were deemed to be run-down. It is flanked by the

Hubert H. Humphrey Building The Hubert H. Humphrey Building is a low-rise Brutalist office building located in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Originally known as the South Portal Building, the Hubert H. Humphrey Building was dedicated on November 1, 1977. It becam ...

, the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services; and the Ford House Office Building, which also contains House of Representatives offices. It is adjacent to the Center Leg Freeway of Interstate 395, which separates it from the Rayburn House Office Building.

History

The building was constructed in 1963 as Federal Office Building No. 8 to house laboratories for the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

, an agency of the neighboring Health and Human Services, located across the street in the

. Starting in 2008, the office building underwent an extensive, $130 million renovation. The building received new green spaces, heating and air conditioning, electrical systems, more glass and numerous energy- and water-saving features, earning it a "gold" rating under the

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...

system. The House of Representatives voted in 2012 to name the building after O'Neill, after a suggestion by then minority leader

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

. The O'Neill building opened for occupancy in 2014. A 2017 law transferred ownership of the building to the

Architect of the Capitol The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is the federal agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex. It is an agency of the legislative branch of the federal government and is ...

, the agency that owns and maintains congressional buildings. It was then given its current name and opened to public access, like the other House and Senate office buildings.

Uses

The O'Neill building is shared by the House of Representatives and the Department of Health and Human Services. It houses about 2,000 staffers. The House of Representatives is using the building, in part, to temporarily house

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

staff who are being displaced by a

Cannon House Office Building The Cannon House Office Building, often called the "Old House Office Building," completed in 1908, is the oldest congressional office building as well as a significant example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture. It occupies a site south of t ...

renovation project due to last until 2025. Health and Human Services uses the structure for its Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, which exists to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies and disasters. It is secure and not open to the public, except by appointment and when escorted.

References

{{Coord, 38.8855, -77.0145, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-DC, display=title Congressional office buildings Buildings of the United States government in Washington, D.C. Office buildings in Washington, D.C. Government buildings completed in 1963 United States Department of Health and Human Services