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U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
Inventory No.:
M: 19-41
Other Name(s):
Energy Research and Development Administration; Department of Energy-Germantown Campus
Date Listed:
5/23/2016
Location:
19901 Germantown Road (MD 118), Germantown, Montgomery County
Period/Date of Construction:
1956-1958
Architect/Builder:
Architect: Voorhees, Walker, Smith & Smith;
Contractor: John McShain
Boundary Description:
The boundary includes that approximately 98.6-acre tax parcel (Montgomery County Tax ID # 00777827) upon which the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission campus is located. The northern boundary is delineated by MD 118 (Germantown Road), and I-270 forms the eastern boundary. Millbrook Road and the tax parcel line forms the southern boundary. The western boundary is defined by the property's tax parcel line that extends between the campus and the residential development.
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Description:
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) campus, which currently operates as the Germantown Campus for the Department of Energy (DOE), is located at 19901 Germantown Road in Montgomery County, Maryland. The campus occupies approximately 98.6 acres in the southwest quadrant of I-270 and MD 118 (Germantown Road). The campus consists of eight buildings, five of which date from 1957 to 1958 when the site was first developed for use as the AEC administrative headquarters. In addition, the campus also includes an original water tower and pond. Two buildings as well as the construction of one wing to the Main Building date to the early 1970s, before the AEC was abolished. The Child Development Center was constructed in 1992 for the use of the DOE. In 2009, the campus operates as the larger of two administrative headquarters for the DOE, under management of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).
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Significance:
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission campus is significant in the areas of Science, Politics/Government, and Architecture for the years 1956-1958. The property is significant as the first permanent headquarters developed solely for use by the Atomic Energy Commission and designed by the prominent architectural firm of Voorhees, Walker, Smith & Smith. The period of significance begins in 1956, with the initial construction and development of the AEC campus and extends to 1958, fifty years from the present. The campus retains its historic function as it remains the larger of the two headquarters for the Department of Energy, the successor of the Atomic Energy Commission; thus its significance extends to the fifty-year age consideration. The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission campus is historically significant in the area of Science as the first campus developed solely for use as the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Commission, the nation’s first federal agency established to exclusively foster and control the development of atomic science and technology. The property is also significant in the area of Politics/Government as the first post-World War II property developed outside Washington, D.C.’s monumental core and the 1930s suburban ring for use by a federal agency. The AEC campus is also architecturally significant, as a mid-20th-century governmental campus designed by Voorhees, Walker, Smith & Smith, a prominent New York City-based architectural firm renowned for designing laboratories, research facilities, and associated office buildings.
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