thumb|View facing northeast, 1864

The Smithsonian Institution Building, more commonly known as the Smithsonian Castle or simply The Castle, is a building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., housing the Smithsonian Institution's administrative offices and information center. Built as the first Smithsonian museum building, it is constructed of Seneca red sandstone in the Norman Revival style (a recalling of a 12th-century combination of late Romanesque and early Gothic motifs; built in the Gothic and Romanesque revival styles). It was completed in 1855 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. Renwick's second design, which was Gothic Revival in style, was used in the design of Trinity Episcopal Church. A cardboard model of Renwick's winning design survives and is on display in the Castle. Renwick was assisted by Robert Mills,

thumb|A statue of [[Joseph Henry displayed in front of the building]]

Initially intended to be built in white marble, then in yellow sandstone, Scholarly evidence indicates it is likely that slaves were employed at Seneca in quarrying stone for the Castle, though no evidence has surfaced that slaves were involved in the actual Castle construction.

The building committee selected Gilbert Cameron as the general contractor, and construction began in 1847. The East Wing was completed in 1849 and occupied by Secretary Joseph Henry and his family. The West Wing was completed later the same year. A structural collapse in 1850 of partly completed work raised questions of workmanship and resulted in a change to fireproof construction. The Castle's exterior was completed in 1852; Renwick's work was completed and he withdrew from further participation. Cameron continued the interior work, which he completed in 1855.

Despite the upgraded fireproof construction, a fire in 1865 caused extensive damage to the upper floor of the building, destroying the correspondence of James Smithson, Henry's papers, two hundred oil paintings of American Indians by John Mix Stanley, the Regent's Room and the lecture hall, and the contents of the public libraries of Alexandria, Virginia and Beaufort, South Carolina, confiscated by Union forces during the American Civil War. The ensuing renovation was undertaken by local Washington architect Adolf Cluss in 1865–67. Further fireproofing work ensued in 1883, also by Cluss, who by this time had designed the neighboring Arts and Industries Building. A third and fourth floor were added to the East Wing, and a third floor to the West Wing. Electric lighting was installed in 1895.

21st century

In February 2023, the Castle closed for a planned five-year renovation. The project would include restoration of many aspects of the building, and removal of an upper floor of offices to restore the Grand Hall to its original appearance.

Description

thumb|East entrance to the building

thumb|View facing southeast,

Renwick designed the Castle as the focal point of a picturesque landscape on the National Mall using elements from Georg Moller's Denkmäler der deutschen Baukunst. Renwick originally intended to detail the building with entirely American sculptural flora in the manner of Benjamin Henry Latrobe's work at the United States Capitol, but the final work used conventional pattern-book designs.

See also

  • Architecture of Washington, D.C.
  • Mary Anna Henry, resident who kept detailed observations of events at the Castle during the Civil War.
  • Seneca Quarry, the source of red sandstone for the Smithsonian Castle, listed on the National Register of Historic Places

References

Further reading

  • Mark Auslander, "Enslaved Labor and Building the Smithsonian: Reading the Stones," Southern Spaces, December 12, 2012.
  • Smithsonian Institution Building, The Castle at Google Cultural Institute
  • C-SPAN Tour of the Smithsonian Castle