The Pentagon was designed by George Bergstrom and David J. Witmer and built from September 11, 1941, to January 15, 1943, at a cost of $83 million. Colonel Leslie Groves oversaw it. The five-sided plan began with the irregular, pentagon-shaped Arlington Farms site. When the building moved to a new site, President Roosevelt kept the shape because he liked it.
Five concentric rings are crossed by ten numbered radial corridors. The building has five floors above ground and two basement levels, about 6.5 million square feet (600,000 sq m) of floor space, and 17.5 miles (28 km) of corridors. Steel was scarce in wartime, so it was built of reinforced concrete with Indiana limestone facing. Its styles are Classical Revival, Modern and Stripped Classicism.
About 23,000 military and civilian employees work here. On September 11, 2001, Flight 77 struck the western side, which was repaired and now holds a small memorial and chapel.
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