The O'Neill House Office Building is an office building in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, that houses offices of both the

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

and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is named after former United States Representative (congressman) from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

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 or House speaker, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United ...

Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (1912-1994), and located at 200 C Street Southwest in the Southwest Federal Center district, at the foot of

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

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— ...

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

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

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 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 List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

, an agency of the neighboring Health and Human Services, located across the street in the Hubert H. Humphrey Building. 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 systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

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 was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

. The O'Neill building opened for occupancy in 2014. A 2017 law transferred ownership of the building to the Architect of the Capitol, 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 or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

staff who are being displaced by a Cannon House Office Building renovation project due to last until 2025. The Department of 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

{{Authority control 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