The U.S. Embassy in Brasília
The United States was the first country to establish an Embassy in Brasília. The Embassy site, which was donated by the Brazilian Government, was officially selected by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles when he visited Brasília in 1958 in the company of President Kubitschek. The site was first occupied in 1960 by a portable house trailer. President Eisenhower laid the symbolic cornerstone of the Embassy Chancery during his visit to Brazil on February 23, 1960.
The Embassy officially opened for business in the Brasília Palace Hotel early in 1960 and moved to the "provisional" Chancery in March 1961. Officially inaugurated in April 1961, the Chancery was designed by the U.S. firm of McLeod and Ferrera. The original one-story, reinforced concrete structure was built around an internal patio. This patio was the first work in Brasília by the well known Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. Due to the virtually non-existent housing in Brasília at the time, the Chancery contained both office space and living accomodations.
Construction of the Chancery building began in 1972 and initial occupancy took place in March 1976. Designed by U.S. architects and engineers Henningson, Durham, and Richardson, the two-story structure features simple modern lines with a facade of white Vermont marble. The one-story wings connect the old and the new buildings forming a second inner courtyard. Roberto Burle Marx planned the landscaping for this courtyard, as well as the garden area in front of the Embassy.
The Embassy staff performs the functions common to such an operation — administrative, consular, economic, political, and public affairs. Other agencies which are part of the U.S. Mission include: Department of Defense (DAO and MLO), Department of Agriculture (FAS), Department of the Treasury, Agency for International Development (USAID), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Department of Commerce (FCS), and the Bureau of Reclamation.
In keeping with the importance of relations between the United States and Brazil, the U.S. Mission has remained in the forefront of the diplomatic and community activities in the capital city.
