Public Buildings Act

Its primary sponsor in the House of Representatives was Representative Richard N. Elliott of Indiana (who served on the House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds), and its primary sponsor in the Senate was Bert M. Fernald of Maine (who served on the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.

[4] President Calvin Coolidge asked the United States Congress for legislation and funds in his message of December 9, 1924.

[9] After much debate, the Senate adopted the bill along with an amendment offered by Sen. William Cabell Bruce of Maryland which restricted construction of government buildings in Washington, D.C., to sites south of Pennsylvania Avenue.

[13] The legislation authorized the United States Department of the Treasury to begin construction on the Federal Triangle complex of buildings, purchase land for a new Supreme Court of the United States building, construct a major extension of the United States Government Printing Office building on North Capitol Street in the District of Columbia, and significantly widen B Street NW on the north side of the National Mall (eventually renamed Constitution Avenue).

[14][17] Buildings constructed outside the District of Columbia under the Act include: Congress amended the Act in 1930 to permit private (not just federally employed) architects to bid on design contracts, and agreed to fund the construction of the Justice, Labor/ICC, National Archives, and Post Office buildings.