X-files Office

[Billy Cromer]

Most of the top FBI officials worked there, including Assistant Director Walter Skinner and Deputy Director Alvin Kersh. (TXF: "Tooms", "Within", et al.) The building also included a security detachment. (TXF: "The Blessing Way", "Pusher") In fact, access into the building, without express permission, was considered a crime. (TXF: "Pusher")

In 2001, the roof was accessible from inside the building via both a set of stairs and an elevator. The stairwell access was a fire exit, to be used exclusively by authorized personnel only in times of emergency. (TXF: "Essence")

In 2001 and 2008, a helicopter pad could also be found atop the building. (TXF: "Essence", The X-Files: I Want to Believe) Several differences between the layout of the roof did take place between 2001 and 2008, however; in 2001, the building's roof included many ventilation shafts and several communication dishes, but these were gone by 2008, when the roof was virtually featureless apart from the helicopter pad and several offices that were built above the majority of the building. (TXF: "Essence", The X-Files: I Want to Believe)

In 2001, while a helicopter was stationed on the landing pad, alien super-soldier Billy Miles followed Assistant Director Walter Skinner on to the roof, with Skinner having taken the elevator and Billy Miles taking the stairs, but Miles was unaware that Special Agent Fox Mulder had accompanied Skinner up to the roof and Mulder pushed Miles off the side of the building, as a garbage truck was passing below. (TXF: "Essence")

The public entrance to the J. Edgar Hoover Building featured a security checkpoint, including a walk-through metal detector. The floor in front of this metal detector, on the side of the entrance from which members of the public would enter, was emblazoned with a large FBI seal, over which hung a flag of the United States of America. A desk to the right of the detector, from the perspective of the entrance, included a computer and a small rectangular sign that read, "All Visitors Must Pass Security Before Entering the Building". A small, plastic, rectangular dish sat on a platform between the desk and the nearest side of the metal detector. Opposite the desk, on the other side of the detector, was another work area. A space between this area and a nearby, adjacent wall allowed FBI personnel to come and go as they pleased, without having to step through the metal detector. On the other side of the security checkpoint from the entrance was a metallic door for an elevator that had only two small controls on the door-frame. (TXF: "The Blessing Way")

During normal procedure, several security guards were stationed at the metal detectors, the guards and the detectors themselves insuring that the building remained safe at all times. Tours would generally start here, and FBI personnel would be able to gain entrance by having their badges scanned. (TXF: "The Blessing Way") The daily goings-on of this security entrance were regularly recorded on surveillance video tape. (TXF: "S.R. 819")

In 1992, a concourse was located on the ground floor which allowed access to the building. The room featured a reception area where visitors and members of the FBI would report to a receptionist after entering.

Two streets ran adjacent to the concourse and could be seen from inside, through two transparent walls that separated the room from each street. An entrance or exit was built into each wall; a set of transparent double-doors provided access from the same level as the street, while the other entrance was lower than the room with several steps leading up to it.

A third, marble wall faced the lowered entrance, between the receptionist's desk to the left and the street-level double doors to the right. A plaque of the FBI seal was displayed on the wall between two flags, one for the United States of America and the other for the FBI. The flags stood alone in front of the wall.

At least four elevators could be found in a recess between the receptionist's desk and the marble wall. These allowed access to the rest of the building and their interiors were lit with a green-shaded light.

The bullpen hallway was an open, busy and crowded work area occupied by FBI officials and situated on the way to Chief Scott Blevins' office from the main concourse. (TXF: "Pilot") This work area existed as early as March 1992, although it was akin to a modern version of a large, open-area work room that could be found in the original FBI Headquarters. (TXF: "Pilot", "Travelers") In 1993, a desk in the bullpen hallway was where Agents could requisition a car, from either a woman named Doreen or another woman named Fran. An Agent Finley also worked in the bullpen hallway in 1993, at least temporarily. (TXF: "The Jersey Devil")

One of the offices in the J. Edgar Hoover Building belonged to Scott Blevins. (TXF: "Pilot", "Redux") He had this office in March 1992, at which time he was a Division Chief and his rank was displayed on a sign on the outside of his door. (TXF: "Pilot") He remained in this office until four years later, by which time he had become a Section Chief but there were no signs affixed to his door. (TXF: "Conduit", "Redux")

One of the offices in the J. Edgar Hoover Building belongs to Assistant Director Walter Skinner. (TXF: "Tooms", et al.) Kersh had a similar office in the building, while he was an Assistant Director from at least 1998 until 2000. (TXF: "Drive", "Within", et al.) AD Kersh's office was on the third floor of the building. (TXF: "Triangle")

Many offices were on a level below the first floor, including an office where the FBI kept a copier. (TXF: "One Breath") In 1992, Fox Mulder was assigned to the office and took the X-Files with him. The office included several filing cabinets, including one where the X-Files were stored, and a desk. Mulder cluttered this office with paraphernalia relating to the paranormal, including a UFO poster proclaiming "I Want to Believe" that Mulder obtained in a head shop on M Street prior to March 1992. (TXF: "Pilot", "Chinga") In 1994, the office was closed and each item of furniture in the room was covered in plastic wrapping. (TXF: "Little Green Men", "3") This was removed when Mulder returned to the X-Files, and the office, several months later. (TXF: "3")

The office was totally destroyed by fire once in 1998. (TXF: "The End") The room was subsequently redecorated, shortly after the office was assigned to Agents Jeffrey Spender and Diana Fowley later in 1998. This redecoration was a lot barer and more darkly lit than the room had been when Mulder and Scully had been working from the office. (TXF: "The Beginning") After Agent Spender voluntarily packed up his office, the room, and investigation of the X-Files, was reassigned to Mulder and Scully, and the office returned to its earlier cluttered appearance. (TXF: "One Son") Mulder acquired a replacement poster stating "I Want to Believe" that was almost identical to his previous one and attached it to the same wall. (TXF: "Alpha")

In 2002, the office was completely emptied, however, with the exception of this poster, which was left lying on the room's floor. (TXF: "The Truth") By 2008, the cluttered look of Mulder's former office had inspired the appearance of his home office in rural Virginia, even including his "I Want to Believe" poster. (The X-Files: I Want to Believe)

The vast corridors in the Hoover Building helped connect offices. They were used often by tours and FBI personnel alike. (TXF: "Triangle") In March 1992, a narrow corridor allowed access to and from Division Chief Scott Blevins' office. (TXF: "Pilot")

There was at least one elevator in the building, with a single set of double elevator doors on the basement near the X-Files office. (TXF: "Pilot", et al.) This elevator was used by Agent Scully upon her first visit to the basement office in March 1992. (TXF: "Pilot")

An observation room in the building consisted of two compartments, separated by a mirrored window. In March 1992, this room was where Billy Miles underwent hypnosis, under the supervision of Heitz Werber and observed by Mulder, in the same room, and by Scully, Blevins and a Third Man, from behind the mirrored window. (TXF: "Pilot")

An FBI library in the organization's headquarters included a microfiche projector. In 1992, this room was darkened as Scully sat alone, using the microfiche to find an article pertaining to the attraction of Ellens Air Base for UFO buffs. (TXF: "Deep Throat")

Since the Bureau is the primary investigative agency for the US Department of Justice, it stands to reason that they would have a massive evidence room. While evidence is generally kept at the FBI Academy at Quantico for analysis, it could be sent to the Hoover Building for detailed analysis from the various sections. (TXF: "Grotesque")

It is unclear whether a room in which Scully types a report in the penultimate scene of "Deep Throat" is the basement office or not, as the scene does not appear in the episode's script and the room seems quite different from the X-Files office. A legend that appears over the scene establishes its setting as the J. Edgar Hoover Building, however.

An animated building resembling the J. Edgar Hoover Building appeared in The Simpsons episode "The Springfield Files" with tagline "FBI; DIVISION OF PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES; WASHINGTON, D.C." and Mulder's X-Files office also made an appearance in the episode.

In the fictional universe of the television series The X-Files, an "X-File" is a case that has been deemed unsolvable or given minimal-priority status by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These files are transferred to the X-Files unit. The files constitute an unassigned project (outside the Bureau mainstream) that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena, fringe pseudo-scientific theories, and non-credible evidence of paranormal activity.

During season 5, episode 15, "Travelers," the first X-File was initiated in 1946 by J. Edgar Hoover. The case is also mentioned in "Shapes," season 1, episode 19. It contained information about a series of murders that occurred in the Northwestern U.S. during World War II, seven of which took place in Browning, Montana. Each of the victims was ripped to shreds and consumed, as if by a wild animal. However, many of the victims were found in their homes, as if they had allowed the killer to enter. In 1946, police cornered what they believed to be such an animal in a cabin in Glacier National Park. They shot it, but when they entered the cabin to retrieve the carcass, they found only the body of Richard Watkins. The murders stopped that year. Believing that the case was too bizarre to be solved adequately, Hoover labeled it unsolved and locked it away in the hope that it would eventually be forgotten. However, the murders resumed in 1954 and continued to occur every few years.[1]

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