By the time of its foundation in 1915, U.S. Coast Guard headquarters shared space with its parent agency, United States Department of Treasury. In the same year, the U.S. Coast Guard moved to Munsey Trust Building, which was home up until 1919. In 1921 Bond Building became new building for headquarters. By the 1930s, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters units were split into three venues – Treasury Annex, the Wilkins Building and the Liberty Loan Building. In 1942, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters consolidated those offices into the Southern Railway Building. Between 1963 and 1971 U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters units occupied 800 Independence Avenue Southwest along with Federal Aviation Agency. In early 1960s and in early 1970s agency also occupied 1300 E Street Northwest. In 1970 U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters moved into Nassif Building along with its new parent agency United States Department of Transportation. Last building to be headquarters was Transpoint Building, leased by General Services Administration since 1979 from Laszlo N. Tauber & Associates, which constructed the building in 1973. Initially, in the 1990s, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters units planned to relocate to 1200 New Jersey Avenue Southeast along with the U.S. Department of Transportation, but as the U.S. Coast Guard was transferred to United States Department of Homeland Security, plans were scrapped.
Construction and tenure
In 2004, the Coast Guard began exploring its need for a new headquarters facility. The General Services Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security determined that it would be more cost-effective for the Coast Guard to move to a secure, federally owned site than to find a replacement lease for Transpoint Building. By 2006, a new U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Building on the campus of the historic St. Elizabeths Hospital was proposed in the 2006 federal budget, although, construction of the building began in 2009 after receiving funding by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Budgeted at $646.2 million, it was the largest GSA project at the time. The building was officially opened on July 29, 2013. From August 2013 to November 2013, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters units relocated to the new building. Earlier in July 2013, An act to designate the Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building was introduced and passed in the United States House of Representatives, officially naming the building the Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building. In autumn 2015, the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Center, Personnel Service Center, Hearing Office, Legal Division, National Pollution Funds Center, Recruiting Command, Marine Safety Center, and Base National Capital Region moved from various offices in Arlington County, Virginia to the Headquarters Building.
