About the Pentagon

The world's largest office building is located in Arlington, Virginia. The building is in the shape of giant a pentagon, and is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. Ground was broken for the construction of the Pentagon September 11, 1941, exactly 60 years before American Airlines Flight 77 hit the building in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Pentagon was constructed because of a lack of space in other military buildings spread accross D.C.

The Pentagon was originally going to be located on Arlington Farms, adjacent to Arlington National Cemetary, an odd-shaped peice of land. One of the requirements of the building was that it could be no more than four stories tall, meaning that it had to grow outward, rather than up. Due to the odd shape of Arlington Farms, the building was given an abnormal shape. When the decision was made to locate the building at the Hoover Airport site, the plans were slightly altered to make the building a more regular pentagon shape.