Elijah Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse

 

The E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse was built in 1948-52 and currently houses the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

One of the last additions to the Judiciary Square and Municipal Center complex, the Elijah Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse was constructed as part of an important civic enclave dating  back to the 1820s. It stands as an almost unaltered example of an early 1950s Stripped Classicism, a non-representational abstraction of the classical style that permeated institutional, especially government architecture after World War II. President Harry S. Truman laid the cornerstone on June 27, 1950, and the courthouse opened in November of 1952. The courthouse is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing property to the Pennsylvania Avenue Historic Site. The courthouse was renamed in 1997 in honor of E. Barrett Prettyman, the former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Courthouse entrances:

3rd Street entrance
This entrance is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
*Note: this entrance is handicap accessible

John Marshall Park entrance
M-F from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Closed for federal holidays