Congress authorizes funding for a new military headquarters in Arlington

On July 28, 1941, the United States Congress authorized funding for the construction of a new War Department headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia. The proposed building was intended to consolidate the department's dispersed administrative offices into one facility across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Officially designated Federal Office Building No. 1 during planning, the project was subject to several architectural and material requirements. Its height was to remain limited, and its design had to minimize the use of structural steel because the material was increasingly important for military production. The original Arlington Farms site had an irregular pentagonal shape, influencing the building's initial configuration. Congressional authorization established the legislative foundation for one of the largest federal construction projects undertaken during World War II.