Old Federal Building (Anchorage, Alaska) 2.49

The Old Federal Building in Anchorage, Alaska is a structure serving primarily as a courthouse of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. Completed in stages from 1939 to 1941, the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.Building historyConstructed almost twenty years before Alaska became the forty-ninth state, the Federal Building in Anchorage symbolized the U.S. government's commitment to the economic growth and development of the territory. Providing residents with a post office, courthouse, and other federal services, it was the first large federal building constructed in Anchorage.This block of Anchorage was designated on the original 1915 plat for the Federal Reserve Bank. The first building erected on the site was a post office, followed by a U.S. Marshals office and territorial jail, which were demolished to make way for the Federal Building. Gilbert Stanley Underwood (1890–1961) designed the original 1939–1940 building and the 1940–1941 west wing addition under the guidance of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury. Underwood was a Los Angeles-based architect best known for designing National Park lodges. He also designed train stations for the Union Pacific Railroad before he began work for the federal government in 1932. While employed by the supervising architect's office, he designed several federal buildings, including the original portion of the Harry S Truman Building in Washington, D.C. He served as supervising architect from 1943–1949.