United States historic place in Washington DC
United States historic place
The
National Building Museum
is a museum of architecture, design, engineering, construction, and
urban planning
in
Washington, D.C.
, United States. It was created by an
Act of Congress
in 1980, and is a private
non-profit institution
. Located at 401 F Street NW, it is adjacent to the
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
and the
Judiciary Square
Metro
station. The museum hosts various temporary exhibits in galleries around the spacious Great Hall.
The building, completed in 1887, served as the
Pension Building
, housing the
United States Pension Bureau
, and hosted several presidential inaugural balls. It is centered around a high-columned interior central courtyard hall often used for various events. It is an important early large-scale example of Renaissance Revival architecture, and was designated a
National Historic Landmark
in 1985.
Pension Building
[
edit
]
The National Building Museum is housed in the former
Pension Bureau
building, a brick structure completed in 1887 and designed by
Montgomery C. Meigs
, the
U.S. Army
quartermaster general
.
[2]
It is notable for several architectural features, including the spectacular interior columns and a
frieze
, sculpted by
Caspar Buberl
, stretching around the exterior of the building and depicting
Civil War
soldiers in scenes somewhat reminiscent of those on
Trajan's Column
as well as the Horsemen Frieze of the
Parthenon
. The vast interior, measuring 316 × 116 feet (96 × 35 m),
[3]
has been used to hold
inauguration
balls; a
Presidential Seal
is set into the floor near the south entrance.
After the Civil War, the United States Congress passed legislation that greatly extended the scope of pension coverage for veterans and their survivors and dependents, notably their widows and orphans. The number of staff needed to implement and administer the new benefits system ballooned to over 1,500, and quickly required a new building from which to run it all. Meigs was chosen to design and construct the new building. He departed from the established Greco-Roman models that had been the basis of government buildings in Washington, D.C., until then and which continued after the Pension Building's completion. Meigs based his design on Italian Renaissance precedents, notably
Rome
's
Palazzo Farnese
and the
Palazzo della Cancelleria
.
[3]
Included in his design was a frieze sculpted by Caspar Buberl. Because a sculpture of that size was well out of Meigs's budget, he had Buberl create 28 different scenes, totaling 69 feet (21 m) in length, which were then mixed and slightly modified to create the continuous 1,200-foot (365-m) parade of over 1,300 figures. Because of the 28 sections' modification and mixture, it is only in careful examination that the frieze is seen to be the same figures repeated several times. The sculpture includes infantry, navy, artillery, cavalry, and medical components, as well as a good deal of the supply and quartermaster functions, for it was in that capacity that Meigs had served during the Civil War.
Meigs's correspondence with Buberl reveals that Meigs insisted that a black teamster, who "must be a negro, a plantation slave, freed by war", be included in the quartermaster panel. This figure was ultimately to assume a central position, over the building's west entrance.
Built before modern artificial ventilation, the building was designed to maximize air circulation: all offices not only had exterior windows, but also opened onto the court, which was designed to admit cool air at ground level and exhaust hot air at the roof. Made of brick and tile, the stairs were designed for the limitations of disabled and aging veterans, having a gradual ascent with low steps. In addition, each step slanted slightly from back to front to allow easy drainage: a flight could be washed easily by pouring water from the top.
When
Philip Sheridan
was asked to comment on the building, his biting reply echoed the negative sentiment of much of the Washington establishment of the day: "Too bad the damn thing is fireproof." A similar quote is also attributed to
William Tecumseh Sherman
, perhaps casting doubt on the truth of the Sheridan tale. Longtime Washington journalist
Benjamin Perley Poore
called the building a "hideous architectural monstrosity."
[5]
The completed building, sometimes called "Meigs Old Red Barn", required more than 15 million bricks,
[6]
which, according to the wit of the day, were each counted by the parsimonious Meigs.
Becoming a museum
[
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]
The building was used for federal government offices until the 1960s when it had fallen into a state of disrepair and was considered for demolition. After pressure from conservationists, the government commissioned a report by architect
Chloethiel Woodard Smith
of possible other uses for the building. Her 1967 report suggested a museum dedicated to the building arts. The building was then listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
in 1969. At that time, the building was still in use as the local draft bureau office. In 1980, Congress created the National Building Museum as a private, non-profit institution. The building itself was formally renamed the National Building Museum in 1997.
[3]
Every year, the annual
Christmas in Washington
program was filmed at the museum, with the President and First Lady until the show's cancellation in 2015.
Museum Shop
[
edit
]
The National Building Museum Shop was honored in 2007 as the "Best Museum Store" in the country by
Niche
magazine, "Best All-Around Museum Shop" in the region by
The Washington Post
,
[7]
a "Top Shop" by the
Washingtonian
,
[8]
and named best museum shop in D.C. by
National Geographic Traveler
's
blog, Intelligent Travel, in July 2009.
[9]
In 2010,
The Huffington Post
included the National Building Museum in a story, "Museums with Amazing Gift Shops".
[10]
The Museum Shop sells books about the built environment and an array of housewares, educational toys, watches, and items for an office, all with an emphasis on design.
American politics
[
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]
On June 7, 2008,
Hillary Clinton
suspended her campaign for the
Democratic
presidential
nomination with a farewell rally inside the museum.
[11]
Several of Clinton's most recognized quotes and sayings were first spoken on this date to several hundreds of supporters, including "If we can blast fifty women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House."
[12]
Awards
[
edit
]
The National Building Museum presents three annual awards: the
Honor Award
for individuals and organizations who have made important contributions to the U.S.'s building heritage; the
Vincent Scully Prize
, which honors exemplary practice, scholarship, or criticism in architecture, historic preservation, and urban design; and the
Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction Technology
, which recognizes outstanding leadership and innovation in the field of construction methods and processes.
[
citation needed
]
Outreach programs
[
edit
]
Investigating Where We Live
Investigating Where We Live is a summer program for teens from the DC metropolitan area. Students spend four weeks in teams equipped with cameras, and sketchbooks to discover the local communities. Students are given an introduction to photography and then investigate neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. Documenting history, landmarks, and residential areas, students assemble the community's identity. The original photographs and writings are incorporated into an exhibition at the Museum. Since 1996, more than 500 students have participated in learning about different communities within the District of Columbia.
[13]
Upon completion of the program, participants:
- Receive a digital camera
- Develop relationships with professional photographers, designers, museum staff, and fellow participants
- Keep photographs for use in future projects, portfolios, or high school and college applications
- Fulfill community service requirements for school
[14]
Previous exhibits include "Investigating Where We Live: Recapturing Shaw's Legacy" which taught high school students about DC's
Shaw neighborhood
.
[15]
[16]
Images
[
edit
]
-
National Building Museum (Capitol building in background)
-
National Building Museum from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial (F Street NW)
-
National Building Museum
-
Corner figures, exterior frieze
-
South entrance
-
Black teamster, exterior frieze
-
Great Hall during 2010 Honor Award ceremony
-
-
Gallery in the 2008-2009 exhibition Green Community
-
Family activity at the 2008 Festival of the Building Arts
-
AIDS Memorial Quilt
display in the Great Hall, 2012
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"National Register Information System"
.
National Register of Historic Places
.
National Park Service
. April 15, 2008.
- ^
a
b
"National Building Museum Facts"
. National Building Museum. Archived from
the original
on June 1, 2011
. Retrieved
July 15,
2008
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Our Historic Building"
. National Building Museum
. Retrieved
July 15,
2008
.
- ^
NBM About, By the Numbers
- ^
Poore, Ben. Perley,
Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis
, Vol.2, p.471 (1886)
.
- ^
National Building Museum Web Site
Archived
July 7, 2010, at the
Wayback Machine
retrieved June 27, 2010
- ^
"And the Winners Are...".
Washington Post
. December 8, 2000.
- ^
Mary Clare Glover (July 1, 2007).
"Top Museum Shops"
. Washingtoanian.
- ^
Sarah Aldrich (July 29, 2009).
"10 Best Museum Shops in DC"
. Intelligent Travel, National Geographic. Archived from
the original
on April 14, 2010.
- ^
"Museums With Amazing Gift Shops, Ripe For Holiday Shopping (PHOTOS)"
. Huffington Post travel. December 3, 2010.
- ^
Nagourney, Adam; Mark Leibovich (June 8, 2008).
"Ending Her Bid, Clinton Backs Obama"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
June 7,
2008
.
- ^
The Washington Post. "44 - Clinton's Last Hurrah." Anne E. Kornblut. 7 June 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^
"National Building Museum: Investigating Where We Live - Recapturing Shaw's Legacy | DowntownDC"
. Archived from
the original
on September 27, 2013
. Retrieved
September 27,
2013
.
- ^
"Teen programs and events at the National Building Museum"
. Retrieved
October 31,
2018
.
- ^
"Investigating Where We Live: Recapturing Shaw's Legacy at national Building Museum"
. Retrieved
October 31,
2018
.
- ^
Morello, Carol (July 6, 2013).
"National Building Museum helps teens explore Shaw, a neighborhood in transition"
.
The Washington Post
. Archived from
the original
on September 25, 2013.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Lyons, Linda Brody,
Building a Landmark: A Guide to the Historic Home of the National Building Museum
, National Building Museum, Washington, D.C., 1999
- McDaniel, Joyce L.,
The Collected Works of Caspar Buberl: An Analysis of a Nineteenth Century American Sculptor
, MA thesis, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1976
- Weeks, Christopher,
AIA
Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C.
, 3rd ed., Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, pp. 73–74.
- Schiavo, Laura Burd.
National Building Museum: Art Spaces.
New York: Scala Publishers, 2007.
External links
[
edit
]
- Official website
- Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) No. DC-76, "
Pension Building, 440 G Street Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC
", 57 photos, 4 color transparencies, 1 measured drawing, 9 data pages, 6 photo caption pages
- National Park Service - National Historic Landmarks Program - Pension Building listing
- General Services Administration page on the Pension Building (National Building Museum)
- National Building Museum Investigating Where We Live
- Washington City Paper
- Washington Post
- Downtown DC
- National Building Museum within Google Arts & Culture
- Media related to
National Building Museum
at Wikimedia Commons
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