Top of page

Photo, Print, Drawing American Press Institute Building, 11690 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Fairfax County, VA

View 22 images in sequence.
[ Photos from Survey HABS VA-585  ]

More Resources

View 9 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS VA-585  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS VA-585  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS VA-585  ]

About this Item

Title

  • American Press Institute Building, 11690 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Fairfax County, VA

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Breuer, Marcel
  • American Press Institute
  • Ortiz, Jarob J., photographer
  • Schara, Mark, project manager
  • Pierce, Ryan, field team
  • Stevens, Christopher M., field team
  • Lockett, Dana, field team
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  newspaper industry
  • -  journalism
  • -  Modern architectural elements
  • -  Brutalist architectural elements
  • -  reinforced concrete construction
  • -  concrete buildings
  • -  Virginia--Fairfax County--Reston

Latitude / Longitude

  • 38.948779,-77.349785

Notes

  • -  Significance: The American Press Institute was established in 1946 as a non-profit organization dedicated to education and training for the newspaper industry. Originally headquartered at Columbia University in New York City, by the early 1970s the API had outgrown its accommodations there and begun a search for a new headquarters location. A site in Reston, Virginia, was eventually chosen, due to its proximity both to Washington DC and to Dulles International Airport. The construction of Reston, one of the most important "new towns" of the 1960s, was begun in 1961 under the direction of visionary real estate developer Robert E. Simon. Dedicated in 1966, Reston was planned as a self-sufficient community, integrating a variety of residential, commercial, cultural, recreational, and educational facilities, organized around seven village centers. To complement the town, Simon had set aside 1,300 acres along the Dulles Access Road for industrial and corporate development, where API purchased property for their new building. To design their new headquarters, API chose the noted architect Marcel Breuer (1902-81). A native of Hungary, Breuer had studied architecture at the famous Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, under the tutelage of Walter Gropius. In 1937, Breuer immigrated to the United States, joining Gropius as a fellow instructor at Harvard University, and in architectural practice. Breuer established his own firm in New York City in 1946, embarking on a successful and prolific international practice. He was awarded the Gold Medal by the American Institute of Architects in 1968. The two-story API Building, as designed by Breuer and built in two phases (1974 and 1980), consisted essentially of a long central corridor on each floor, flanked by offices and administrative spaces. On the second floor, a large conference room was located at each end of the building. The building's footprint was bent at two locations, as an accommodation to the topography of the site. Breuer designed the building in the modernist style known as Brutalism, in reference to its exposed concrete finish ("beton brut" in French). Structurally, Breuer used a combination of poured-in-place concrete walls, and precast concrete exterior panels with vertical and horizontal fins, a distinctive feature of several of his most notable buildings. A third phase of the building was completed in 2000, designed by a local Reston architectural firm in a complimentary style. The API moved out of their namesake building in 2012. Despite efforts by the Fairfax County historic preservation community, the API Building was demolished four years later.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2317
  • -  Survey number: HABS VA-585
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1974 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 2016 Demolished
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1980 Subsequent Work

Medium

  • Photo(s): 22
  • Measured Drawing(s): 9
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 2

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS VA-585

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • va2275

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS VA-585
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
    • If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
  • Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
      • The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
      • All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

Access to Originals

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Marcel Breuer, American Press Institute, Mark Schara, Ryan Pierce, Christopher M Stevens, and Dana Lockett, Ortiz, Jarob J, photographer. American Press Institute Building, 0 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Fairfax County, VA. Fairfax County Reston Virginia, 1933. translateds by Mcpartland, Marymitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/va2275/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Breuer, M., American Press Institute, Schara, M., Pierce, R., Stevens, C. M. & Lockett, D., Ortiz, J. J., photographer. (1933) American Press Institute Building, 0 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Fairfax County, VA. Fairfax County Reston Virginia, 1933. McPartland, M. & McPartland, M., transs Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/va2275/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Ortiz, Jarob J. American Press Institute Building, 0 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Fairfax County, VA. trans by Mcpartland, Marymitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/va2275/>.