Washington National Airport Main Terminal
Designed in the final years before the United States entered the Second World War, Washington National Airport’s 1941 Main Terminal is one of a handful of American airport buildings that transcends its functional brief — an Art Deco essay in flight, still handling passengers eighty years later.
At a glance
The design for Washington National Airport (now Reagan National) was commissioned and built by the Civil Aeronautics Authority, opening on June 16, 1941. The building’s distinctive curved facade and central control tower set a standard for American airport architecture that went largely unrepeated in the jet age, when function and speed displaced the formal ambition of the pre-war terminal. It is one of the only surviving examples of an Art Deco commercial airport terminal in the United States still in use for its original purpose, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1980.
Key facts
- Opened: June 16, 1941
- Architect: Civil Aeronautics Authority architectural staff
- Address: Reagan National Airport, Arlington, Virginia 22202
- Style: Art Deco / Stripped Classical
- Status: National Historic Landmark (1980); still in active use as Terminal B
- Notable feature: Curved central facade with integrated control tower
- GPS: 38.8510°N, 77.0380°W
History
In the 1930s, commercial aviation was establishing itself as a serious mode of transportation and Washington DC lacked a modern airport capable of handling the growing passenger loads. Hoover Field and Washington Airport, two earlier facilities on the same general site in Arlington, were combined and enlarged into the new Washington National Airport under a federal public works program. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the project and the Civil Aeronautics Authority oversaw its construction.
The CAA architects designed the terminal as a symmetrical building with a curved facade facing the airfield and a control tower rising from the central pavilion — an arrangement that placed the functional need for runway visibility (the tower) at the visual and compositional center of the building. The Georgian/Federal architectural references that inflect the building’s detailing (a nod to nearby Washington DC’s civic vocabulary) are smoothed into the Art Deco’s preference for surface continuity and simplified ornament.
The airport operated as the primary commercial airport serving the capital for decades. It was renamed Washington Dulles International Airport’s companion facility, and ultimately renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in 1998. The original terminal building — now Terminal B — continues to handle flights, surrounded by later terminal additions. Its landmark status has protected it from the wholesale demolitions that ended the useful life of most first-generation American terminals.
What you see
The terminal’s airfield facade is its best-known elevation: a long, gently curved white stone frontage punctuated by regular window bays and terminating in the central control tower pavilion. The curve subtly tracks the edge of the apron, so that the building’s plane is never quite perpendicular to any single line of sight — a device that gives the building more visual interest than a flat facade would offer from the same position. The tower’s vertical shaft, narrowing as it rises, is framed by the horizontal emphasis of the terminal wings in a classic Deco compositional play of vertical accent against horizontal register.
The central hall retains original terrazzo floors and period light fixtures in the restored interior. The departure gates radiate from this hall along the wings, the spatial sequence compressed by the modest scale typical of pre-war aviation when passenger loads were a fraction of today’s volumes. From the airside the building reads as a domestic-scaled artifact pressed into service for an era that hadn’t yet settled on the monumental shed as the correct architectural answer for mass passenger handling.
Practical information
- Access: The terminal is in active use as Terminal B/C at Reagan National Airport; accessible to ticketed passengers and meeters/greeters (with security)
- Public access: The terminal’s exterior and the public ticketing hall are accessible without a ticket; the airside gates require a boarding pass
- Getting to the terminal: Take the Washington Metro Yellow/Blue line to Reagan National Airport station; the terminal is a short walk or shuttle from the station
- Photography: Airfield facade is visible from the airport access road and Metro platform area; best viewed from the platforms or the access road below
Getting there
Reagan National Airport is accessible by Washington Metro (Yellow and Blue lines, Reagan National Airport station). By car, take the George Washington Memorial Parkway south from DC to the airport exits. The terminal is about 4 miles from the Mall in Washington DC, making it the closest major airport to the capital. From downtown DC the Metro ride takes approximately 20 minutes.
Nearby
- Arlington National Cemetery (1 mile northwest)
- Pentagon (1.5 miles southwest)
- The National Mall, Washington DC (4 miles north via the GW Parkway)
- Potomac River and Mount Vernon Trail (adjacent to the airport perimeter)
Sources
- National Historic Landmark nomination, Washington National Airport
- Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, historical documentation
- Federal Aviation Administration history of Washington National Airport development
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