The Nationaw Buiwding Museum is wocated at 401 F Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban pwanning". It was created by an act of Congress in 1980, and is a private non-profit institution; it is adjacent to de Nationaw Law Enforcement Officers Memoriaw and de Judiciary Sqware Metro station, uh-hah-hah-hah. The museum hosts various temporary exhibits in gawweries around de spacious Great Haww.
The buiwding, compweted in 1887, served as de Pension Buiwding, housing de United States Pension Bureau, and hosted severaw presidentiaw inauguraw bawws. It is an important earwy warge-scawe exampwe of Renaissance Revivaw architecture, and was designated a Nationaw Historic Landmark in 1985.
The Nationaw Buiwding Museum is housed in de former Pension Bureau buiwding, a brick structure compweted in 1887 and designed by Montgomery C. Meigs, de U.S. Army qwartermaster generaw. It is notabwe for severaw architecturaw features, incwuding de spectacuwar interior cowumns and a frieze, scuwpted by Caspar Buberw, stretching around de exterior of de buiwding and depicting Civiw War sowdiers in scenes somewhat reminiscent of dose on Trajan's Cowumn as weww as de Horsemen Frieze of de Pardenon. The vast interior, measuring 316 × 116 feet (96 × 35 m), has been used to howd inauguration bawws; a Presidentiaw Seaw is set into de fwoor near de souf entrance.
After de Civiw War, de United States Congress passed wegiswation dat greatwy extended de scope of pension coverage for veterans and deir survivors and dependents, notabwy deir widows and orphans. The number of staff needed to impwement and administer de new benefits system bawwooned to over 1,500, and qwickwy reqwired a new buiwding from which to run it aww. Meigs was chosen to design and construct de new buiwding. He departed from de estabwished Greco-Roman modews dat had been de basis of government buiwdings in Washington, D.C., untiw den and which continued after de Pension Buiwding's compwetion, uh-hah-hah-hah. Meigs based his design on Itawian Renaissance precedents, notabwy Rome's Pawazzo Farnese and de Pawazzo dewwa Cancewweria.
Incwuded in his design was a frieze scuwpted by Caspar Buberw. Because a scuwpture of dat size was weww out of Meigs's budget, he had Buberw create 28 different scenes, totawing 69 feet (21 m) in wengf, which were den mixed and swightwy modified to create de continuous 1,200-foot (365-m) parade of over 1,300 figures. Because of de 28 sections' modification and mixture, it is onwy in carefuw examination dat de frieze is seen to be de same figures repeated severaw times. The scuwpture incwudes infantry, navy, artiwwery, cavawry, and medicaw components, as weww as a good deaw of de suppwy and qwartermaster functions, for it was in dat capacity dat Meigs had served during de Civiw War.
Meigs's correspondence wif Buberw reveaws dat Meigs insisted dat a bwack teamster, who "must be a negro, a pwantation swave, freed by war", be incwuded in de qwartermaster panew. This figure was uwtimatewy to assume a centraw position, over de buiwding's west entrance.
Buiwt before modern artificiaw ventiwation, de buiwding was designed to maximize air circuwation: aww offices not onwy had exterior windows, but awso opened onto de court, which was designed to admit coow air at ground wevew and exhaust hot air at de roof. Made of brick and tiwe, de stairs were designed for de wimitations of disabwed and aging veterans, having a graduaw ascent wif wow steps. In addition, each step swanted swightwy from back to front to awwow easy drainage: a fwight couwd be washed easiwy by pouring water from de top.
When Phiwip Sheridan was asked to comment on de buiwding, his biting repwy echoed de negative sentiment of much of de Washington estabwishment of de day: "Too bad de damn ding is fireproof." A simiwar qwote is awso attributed to Wiwwiam Tecumseh Sherman, perhaps casting doubt on de truf of de Sheridan tawe.
The compweted buiwding, sometimes cawwed "Meigs Owd Red Barn", reqwired more dan 15 miwwion bricks, which, according to de wit of de day, were each counted by de parsimonious Meigs.
The buiwding was used for federaw government offices untiw de 1960s when it had fawwen into a state of disrepair and was considered for demowition, uh-hah-hah-hah. After pressure from conservationists, de government commissioned a report by architect Chwoediew Woodard Smif of possibwe oder uses for de buiwding. Her 1967 report suggested a museum dedicated to de buiwding arts. The buiwding was den wisted on de Nationaw Register of Historic Pwaces in 1969. At dat time, de buiwding was stiww in use as de wocaw draft bureau office. In 1980, Congress created de Nationaw Buiwding Museum as a private, non-profit institution, uh-hah-hah-hah. The buiwding itsewf was formawwy renamed de Nationaw Buiwding Museum in 1997.
Every year, de annuaw Christmas in Washington program was fiwmed at de museum, wif de President and First Lady untiw de show's cancewwation in 2015.
The Nationaw Buiwding Museum Shop was honored in 2007 as de "Best Museum Store" in de country by Niche magazine, "Best Aww-Around Museum Shop" in de region by The Washington Post, a "Top Shop" by de Washingtonian, and named best museum shop in D.C. by Nationaw Geographic Travewer's bwog, Intewwigent Travew, in Juwy 2009. In 2010, The Huffington Post incwuded de Nationaw Buiwding Museum in a story, "Museums wif Amazing Gift Shops". The Museum Shop sewws books about de buiwt environment and an array of housewares, educationaw toys, watches, and items for an office, aww wif an emphasis on design, uh-hah-hah-hah.
On June 7, 2008, Hiwwary Cwinton suspended her campaign for de Democratic presidentiaw nomination wif a fareweww rawwy inside de museum. Severaw of Cwinton's most recognized qwotes and sayings were first spoken on dis date to severaw hundreds of supporters, incwuding "If we can bwast fifty women into space, we wiww someday waunch a woman into de White House."
- The Washington Post. "44 - Cwinton's Last Hurrah." Anne E. Kornbwut. 7 June 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- "Archived copy". Archived from de originaw on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as titwe (wink)
- "Teen programs and events at de Nationaw Buiwding Museum". Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- "Investigating Where We Live: Recapturing Shaw's Legacy at nationaw Buiwding Museum". Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- Morewwo, Carow (Juwy 6, 2013). "Nationaw Buiwding Museum hewps teens expwore Shaw, a neighborhood in transition". The Washington Post.
- Lyons, Linda Brody, Buiwding a Landmark: A Guide to de Historic Home of de Nationaw Buiwding Museum, Nationaw Buiwding Museum, Washington, D.C., 1999
- McDaniew, Joyce L., The Cowwected Works of Caspar Buberw: An Anawysis of a Nineteenf Century American Scuwptor, MA desis, Wewweswey Cowwege, Wewweswey, Massachusetts, 1976
- Weeks, Christopher, AIA Guide to de Architecture of Washington, D.C., 3rd ed., Bawtimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, pp. 73–74.
- Schiavo, Laura Burd. Nationaw Buiwding Museum: Art Spaces. New York: Scawa Pubwishers, 2007.