The Pentagon
The Pentagonis the building that houses the U.S. Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. As the name indicates, it is a five‐sided building, composed of five concentric pentagons interconnected by corridors.
The Pentagon was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1941 and 1943 to consolidate various offices in the War Department, which was expanding rapidly during World War II. Covering an area of thirty‐four acres, with four stories aboveground, the reinforced concrete building was designed to provide 5 million square feet of floor space for 40,000 employees. When completed, the Pentagon was the world's largest office building. In 1947, it became the headquarters of the newly established Department of Defense. The term “the Pentagon” often refers to the...
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