On the day before Halloween, Janice Fridie of the DOJ Main Library led sixteen rapt librarians on a tour of the beautiful Robert F. Kennedy Building on Constitution Avenue.  As part of Federal Triangle, the building was erected in 1934 on a swampy, fetid area of the city called “Murder Bay,” renown for its houses of ill repute and rough saloons.  The resulting building is a magnificent combination of classical Greco-Roman and Art Deco styles, known affectionately to the staff as “Greco-Deco.”

The building once housed the FBI as well as the DOJ, meaning that Bobby Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover had offices down the hall from each other.  Apparently, upon learning that Bobby had a fireplace and he didn’t, the famed director of the FBI insisted that a fake one be installed in his suite.

There’s also a narrow ledge around the building at the 5^th floor level, and unsubstantiated rumor holds that J. Edgar would make FBI agents who displeased him “take a lap.”  Sadly, Janice had to debunk Andrew’s story that Edwin Meese had installed in his office a trapdoor that led directly to the cells in the basement.  We did, however, see the rooms in which Nazi saboteurs were tried during World War 2. 

In the Great Hall we saw the “Spirit of Justice” and the “Majesty of the Law”, statues Attorney General Ashcroft kept behind closed curtains [for modesty’s sake]. 

(Tax Attorney Julie Avetta sings the National anthem at the DOJ Tax Division Awards Ceremony)

And a bank vault where the DOJ used to keep the cash for its employees as well as money for damages collected and disbursed.

Some of the magnificent art we saw included: Emperor Palpatine shooting fire from his hands at a lynch mob.  The face of the man with the rope was originally a deaths head, which proved to be so terrifying that they asked the artist to come back and paint a red bandana over it.

An allegory for the “World without Justice” that features the creepiest children you’ll find outside of a Stephen King story.

Bam Bam from The Flintstones.

 The magnificent doors made of the new high tech metal “Aluminium.”

A lawgiver portrait of Spock from Star Trek.  Or possibly his father Sarek.

Anyone interested in the art and history of this building should check out the 75^th Anniversary book compiled by the DOJ:  Celebrating Art and Architecture on the 75^th Anniversary 1934 – 2009.