What you see

The four-story building rests on a base of Mount Airy granite — a pale grey stone quarried in the North Carolina piedmont — while the walls above are clad in Indiana limestone. The south facade, the principal elevation, runs fifteen bays across, its five central bays projected forward to form the entry pavilion. Here the Art Deco ornamental program reaches its fullest expression: carved lotus panels occupy the denticulated friezes, aluminum spandrel panels between the windows carry a diamond motif, and four fluted engaged pilasters frame the second and third floors. Between these pilasters are carved panels bearing the seals of the Treasury Department, the Post Office Department, the Department of Justice, the War Department, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Labor — six federal agencies represented in stone at the exact height where a visitor’s eye naturally falls.

Above the entry doors, carved open stone grilles flank the portal. Higher still, at the fourth-floor setback, triangular pilasters anchor the corners and carved eagles’ heads surmount Federal shields. The west elevation reveals the U-shaped plan of the building and carries the same ornamentation as the south. Inside, the third-floor courtroom remains in nearly original condition: marble wainscot, original doors and furnishings, a space that has changed little since the 1930s.