National Mall Temporary War Offices

During World War I, the War Department built temporary offices and munitions buildings on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Officials expanded these so-called temporary structures dramatically during World War II while they finished the new Pentagon across the river. The low, boxy offices sat in the shadow of Washington’s monuments for decades as thousands of defense workers used them. They were not fully demolished until 1970, long after the wars that justified their construction had ended.

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