The Carl Albert Federal Building was built in 1911 as the McAlester post office and federal courthouse, and was later renamed for Carl Albert, the diminutive McAlester native who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977. The building is a typical example of restrained Beaux-Arts federal architecture: limestone, two storeys, tall arched windows, a small portico over the entrance.
The federal courtroom inside is still occasionally used and has its original woodwork. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and remains one of the cleanest pieces of public architecture in southeastern Oklahoma.