National Register Listing

Federal Office Building

a.k.a. J.J. "Jake" Pickle Federal Building

300 E 8th St, Austin, TX

The 1964 Federal Office Building in Austin, Travis County, Texas, is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and B in the area of Politics/Government, and meets Criteria Consideration G (Properties That Have Achieved Significance within the Past 50 Years) for its close association with President Lyndon Baines Johnson during the period 1965-1971. The presidential suite on the ninth floor of the Federal Office Building served as an office for President Johnson during the considerable amount of time he spent in central Texas during his presidency. In addition to its general association with President Johnson, the suite was the site of important national policy discussions, including a critical meeting on December 6, 1966, that established a policy of negotiation between the United States and the Soviet Union regarding nuclear weapons that established the United States' position regarding the Soviet Union's Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defense system, and set the stage for the future Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). This change in stance would lead to negotiations and eventual signing of the SALT agreement, which was the first formal agreement between the two countries limiting the numbers of nuclear weapons. The decisions made during this and other meetings are of national significance. President Johnson continued to use the suite after his presidency, beginning in January 1969, through 1971 for the planning of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, and in the preparation of his memoirs. The building retains a high degree of all aspects of integrity.

Local significance of the building:
Politics/government

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.