Construction of the building began in 1939 as part of 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.).

Thousands of fingerprint records were housed in the building, requiring manual search techniques to find a match.

The unit was one of the first to move to the FBI's new main headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue upon its completion in 1974.

Following the FBI's fingerprint section departure, the building was purchased by the Architect of the Capitol's office and was renamed House Annex-2.

In the late 1980s, the Democratic and Republican parties were each permitted to rename a former House Annex building.