Building Manager Tools
GSA offers a number of convenient tools to assist associates and delegated agencies in the management of GSA’s historic facilities. Foremost among these tools is the Building Preservation Plan (BPP) database, now accessible to GSA associates online. Building Preservation Plans provide building-specific documentation and guidance for planning projects of all scales, responding to tenant alteration requests, complying with changing codes and requirements, and maintaining historic materials. Complete Building Preservation Plans are available for about half of GSA’s historic building inventory. Even if a complete BPP is not available, the BPP database provides basic information such as location and construction dates for all historic buildings in the inventory. Parts of the database, including GSA’s historic building list, locations, statements of significance, and some photographs, are accessible to the public through GSA’s homepage Historic Federal Building Database.
Additional project planning tools and templates for historic buildings, including technical procedures and guides for work involving historic materials as well as scopes of work and qualification requirements for preservation services, are available in Project Management Tools.
First Impressions
GSA’s First Impressions program provides guidance for making and keeping GSA buildings inviting by focusing on curb appeal, entrance gateways, eliminating clutter, and successfully integrating changes into existing buildings of all ages. For historic buildings, this requires taking cues from the building’s original design to make the most of the character-defining historic features and finishes that set these buildings apart. Additional guidance is provided in GSA’s Technical Preservation Guidelines “First Impressions at Historic Buildings.”
Under the First Impressions Program, GSA has restored the original design integrity of its 1917 National Office Building at 1800 F Street in Washington, DC. This project serves as a model for combining low and no cost clutter reduction with selective restoration and integrated design of new features to recapture the grandeur of historic entrance lobbies and ceremonial corridors.
Film Locations
PBS’s Center for Historic Buildings has developed a nationwide program to encourage the use of our historic buildings for film and television productions. The intent of this program is to showcase and support this legacy by creating opportunities for the public to experience these buildings through film. All revenue earned through this program is reinvested in our historic inventory. Your choice to make your property’s grounds or spaces available for an industry-standard fee goes a long way to promoting, protecting, and preserving these national treasures. This page also has the film location sample license and other documents.
Federal Modernism
The decades of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s stand out as a period of extensive federal government growth. In 2003 the Center for Historic Buildings published Growth, Efficiency and Modernism: GSA Buildings of the 1950s, 60s and 1970s to provide the context for evaluating the historic and architectural significance of GSA's mid-century modern buildings as they near the 50-year age threshold for National Register eligibility. The book can be downloaded online as a PDF or obtained by contacting the Center for Historic Buildings.
Last Reviewed 1/30/2009