How GAO Built Its Dream House
Effective July 7, 2004, the GAO's legal name became the Government Accountability Office. The change, which better reflects the modern professional services organization GAO has become, is a provision of the GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004, Pub. L. 108-271, 118 Stat. 811 (2004).
The following article, published in 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of the dedication of GAO's headquarters building. It refers to the agency by its original name, the U.S. General Accounting Office.
- Chapter 1, A Novel Design for GAO's Headquarters Building
- Chapter 2, Where to Put Workers and Their Cars
- Chapter 3, Why Did GAO Need More Office and Warehouse Space?
- Chapter 4, GAO Moves into "Meigs’s Old Red Barn"
- Chapter 5, Proposal for Remodeling the Pension Building (GAO’s Headquarters), ca. 1934
- Chapter 6, A Proposal to House GAO in Southwest Washington
- Chapter 7, How the War Stopped Construction of a GAO Building
- Chapter 8, Congress Approves a Building for GAO
- Chapter 9, The President Lays the Cornerstone for GAO's Building
- Chapter 10, Changes in GAO and Its Building
- Chapter 11, Hot and Cold Spots and Wind Tunnels
- Chapter 12, GAO Takes Charge of Its Building
- Chapter 13, The "Dream House" Becomes a Model Building
This paper was written in 2001 by Maarja Krusten, GAO’s historian. She also has prepared a related article, A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON GAO'S HEADQUARTERS BUILDING (2001), which examines this topic in greater depth and includes source information. To obtain a copy of the longer article, contact the historian by e-mail at krustenm@gao.gov or by mail:
Maarja Krusten, Historian
U.S. Government Accountability Office
ATTN: Office of Quality and Continuous Improvement (QCI)
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548