The Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse and Federal Office Building were built in 1974 on the same land where U.S. District Judge Edward Schwartz once attended elementary school. Judge Schwartz was instrumental in procuring the approval and funding for these buildings. Combined, they are one of the few federal buildings dedicated during the administration of President Gerald Ford. They are also unique in that they were named after Judge Schwartz while he was still living.

The buildings were the first to be built in the Horton Plaza Redevelopment Project, a fifteen block area, which runs five blocks between Union Street to Horton Park and three blocks south of Broadway. The six story Federal Building and its neighboring five-story courthouse have an exterior of precast concrete panels and bronze tinted windows. Crushed chips of Coldspring Corilian granite mixed with the concrete give the building a unique earth tone coloring. The building complex includes two large landscaped areas, including an urban park covering parts of two city blocks on the south-side of the Federal Building. In 2008, the lawn area of the south plaza was replaced with artificial turf, saving 1.4 million gallons of water each year.