Category Archives: Architecture

New York Public Library (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

New York Public Library

This public library system in New York City, one of the world’s leading libraries with nearly 53 million items, is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) and fourth largest in the world. A private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing, this library has branches in the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island, and affiliations with academic and professional libraries in the metropolitan area of New York State.

Courtyard

The New York Public Library, with its collection consisted of more than 1,000,000 volumes, also has four research libraries which are also open to the general public. It is famed for its possession of a Gutenberg Bible and a Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. The iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the main branch of the New York Public Library, costing US$9 million to build, was officially opened on May 23, 1911 in a ceremony presided over by President William Howard Taft. That same day, after a dedication ceremony attended by 50,000 people, the library was open to the general public.  In 1965, the building was declared as a National Historic Landmark.

Grand lobby

The massive building exterior, which has suffered damage from weathering and pollution, underwent a three-year, $50 million renovation and restoration, underwritten by a $100-million gift from philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman (his name was inscribed at the bottom of the columns framing the building’s entrances) and overseen by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., and the refurbished facade was unveiled on February 2, 2011.

Stairway on the left

The library, a French Beaux-Arts masterpiece designed by architects Carrère & Hastings, was the largest marble structure up to that time in the United States. The two reclining, placid but attentive stone lions (nicknamed Patience and Fortitude) guarding the entrance, sculpted by Eward Clark Potter, was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers.

Stairway on the right

This 3-storey building’s broad street frontage, along Fifth Avenue, adds to the variety and dignity of the streetscape. The library’s main façade expands horizontally and completely dominates the field of vision. The terrace, which lifts up the building from street level, is accessed by a wide, inviting stairway.

Bust of John M. Carrere

Bust of Thomas Hastings

The central portico, composed of 3 large, semicircular arched openings with a tall, sculpted attic, is reminiscent of an ancient Roman triumphal arch (a symbolic reference suggesting a ceremonial welcome). The allegorical fountains (Truth to the right and Beauty to the left), by Frederick MacMonnies, are embedded in the walls adjacent to the portico.

Edna Barnes Salomon Room

Print and Photographs Study Room

The interior, organized around a central circulation core, has a grand entry hall, two courtyards and a modest but exquisitely-detailed lobby split into two stairs which take the visitor to the functional rooms of the second floor and then, further up, to the spacious and stately reading room on the third floor.

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division

Today, it is equipped with computers, with access to library collections and the Internet, and docking facilities for laptops. Many writers and scholars, selected annually, have accomplished important research and writing at the library through a Fellows program that makes reserved rooms available for them.

McGraw Rotunda

The rectangular McGraw Rotunda, set beneath arched bays and over 17-ft. high paired Corinthian walnut pilasters, has a richly decorative, Renaissance-style ceiling, with coffered (sunken) panels and painted, by James Wall Finn, with the vast, luminous, 27 by 33-ft. mural “Prometheus Bringing the Gift of Fire.” The colorfully cloudy sky is provided with the bright natural light by the massively-scaled windows.

Prometheus Bringing the Gift of Fire

A set of four large arched panels by Edward Laning, featuring “The Story of the Recorded Word” (the story depicted across each of the murals illustrate crucial periods of development in the history of books and printing) were executed from 1938 to 1942 as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Project, with supplies furnished by Isaac Phelps Stokes (author of the “Iconography of Manhattan Island’).

Bill Blass Public Catalog Room

Moses with the Tablets of Law, the first mural, to the left of the entrance to the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, depicts Moses, as recorded in the Book of Exodus, descending from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.

Moses with the Tablets of Law

The Medieval Scribe, the second mural to the right of the same door, depicts a monk of the Middle Ages copying a manuscript while, behind him, is a scene of destruction and rapine.

The Medieval Scribe

Gutenberg Showing a Proof to the Elector of Mainz, the third mural to the left of the doorway to Room 316, depicts Johann Gutenberg showing a proof of his Bible to Adolph of Nassau, Elector of Mainz.

Gutenberg Showing a Proof to the Elector of Mainz

The Linotype-Mergenthaler and Whitelaw Reid, the fourth mural to the right, depicts Ottmar Mergenthaler (America’s contribution) at the keyboard of his linotype as his patron, Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune, examines a page printed by the new device.

The Linotype-Mergenthaler and Whitelaw Reid

New York Public Library (NYPL): 476 5th Ave. cor. 42nd St., New York City, New York 10018, U.S.A

Massachusetts State House (Boston, U.S.A.)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

The Massachusetts State House (also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House),  with its instantly recognizable golden dome, is situated on 27,000 sq. m. (6.7 acres), covering two city blocks, of land on top of the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston.  Located opposite the Boston Common, it is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Check out “Boston Common”

Massachusetts State House

Housing the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature) and the offices of the Governor of Massachusetts, the building was designed by architect Charles Bulfinch (for its design, he made use of two existing buildings in London: William Chambers‘s Somerset House, and James Wyatt‘s Pantheon).  Considered a masterpiece of Federal architecture and among Bulfinch’s finest works, the building, built on land once owned by John Hancock (Massachusetts’s first elected governor), has repeatedly been enlarged since.

The author at the Bullfinch Entrance

Here is the historical timeline of the building:

  • On July 4, 1795, the Masonic cornerstone ceremony, presided by Paul Revere (Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts) took place.
  • It was completed in January 1798 at a cost of $133,333 (more than five times the budget). Before its completion, Massachusetts’s government house was the Old State House on what is now Washington Street.
  • In 1802, the leaking original wood dome was covered with copper sheathing by Paul Revere‘s Revere Copper Company. Revere was the first American to roll copper successfully into sheets in a commercially viable manner.
  • In 1895, the original building was expanded with an annex designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by Bostonian architect Charles Brigham.
  • In 1917, the east and west wings, designed by architects Sturgis, Bryant, Chapman & Andrews, were completed.
  • In 1874, the dome was first painted gray and then light yellow before being gilded with 23 karat gold leaf.
  • During World War II, the dome was painted gray once again, to prevent reflection during blackouts and to protect the city and building from bombing attacks.
  • On December 19, 1960, the building was designated as a National Historic Landmark for its architectural significance.
  • On October 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
  • In 1997, at a cost of more than $300,000, the dome was re-gilded, in 23k gold.

The golden dome

The building’s red brick walls, white pillars and trim, and golden dome catch the sun in every season. The dome is topped with a gilded, wooden pine cone which symbolizes both the importance of Boston’s lumber industry, during Early Colonial times, and of the state of Maine, which was a district of the Commonwealth when the Bulfinch section of the building was completed.

General Hooker Entrance

In front of the building, on the grounds below the central colonnade,  are the equestrian statue of American Civil War General Joseph Hooker  (done by renowned Massachusetts sculptor Daniel Chester French) as well as those of orator Daniel Webster (sculpted in bronze by Hiram Powers in 1858) and educator and statesman Horace Mann (dating from 1865, it was sculpted by Emma Stebbins).

Equestrian statue of Gen. Joseph Hooker

On the west wing plaza is the statue of former US President John F. Kennedy (designed by Isabel McIlvain, it was dedicated on May 29, 1990) while on the lawns below the two State House wings are the somber statues of Anne Hutchinson (sculpted by Cyrus Edwin Dallin in 1922) and early Boston Quaker Mary Dyer, both religious martyrs of Colonial days,. Inside the building is a statue of William Francis Bartlett, an officer in the American Civil War.

Statue of Mary Dyer

Massachusetts State House: 24 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108. Tel: (617) 727-3676. Open Mondays to Fridays, 8 AM – 6 PM.  Coordinates: 42°21′29.4″N 71°3′49.3″W.

Gallery at the Historical Museum of Natural History (Boston, Massachusetts)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

RH Boston – The Gallery at the Historical Museum of Natural History

This stately Neo-Classical, red brick and-brownstone building, commanding a park-like block of Berkeley St., between Newbury and Boylston in Boston’s Back Bay, was designed by architect William Gibbons Preston in 1863.  Originally the Museum of Natural History, it was known, over the years to Bostonians, as the Bonwit Teller building and later the  home to the clothier Louis Boston.

The Neo-Classical, red brick and brownstone facade

Now Restoration Hardware’s (a California-based home-furnishings company) Boston flagship store, it was redesigned by AD 100 firm Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects, the designers of numerous other RH stores. To approximate the original interior, the designers consulted old photographs and architectural drawings.

In a renovation work that was, more or less, a complete gut requiring 15 months, they took out mezzanines inserted by previous tenants, removed an elevator bank that blocked the central axis through the building and painstakingly restored and recreated original millwork, plaster and steel details.

The Central Atrium

Wall, ceiling and decorative surfaces were coated in neutral gray. Most significant, to recapture views from the ground floor all the way to the gilded, coffered ceiling, they opened up the 70 ft. high, 3-storey central atrium.

The glass and steel traction elevator

Unveiled spring of 2103, the 40,000 sq. ft. RH Design Gallery is the largest outpost for this expanding retailer whose product categories includes tabletop goods (Chinese porcelain dinnerware, Belgian linens, etc.) and “objects of curiosity” (architectural fragments, faux antlers, iPod-compatible reproduction Victrolas, etc.).

When I entered glass and steel entry pavilion of this Civil War–era structure, I was enthralled by its graceful Corinthian pilasters, Romanesque arches, and monumental interior atrium. Gliding up and down the atrium is the store’s pièce de résistance – a new, custom glass and steel traction elevator modeled after the one in Los Angeles’s 1893 Bradbury Building.

The store’s four floors (including a basement level) offer a florist and a dedicated area for RH’s Baby & Child collections (featuring pint-size leather chesterfields and armchairs). In addition, there’s masculine spaces such as wine bar run by Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley (of Yountville, California).

There’s also a quartet of club rooms – a billiard lounge with a rehabbed Brunswick pool table, a cinema room where TVs play classic movies, an inviting library packed with vintage novels and design books, and a pub serving craft beers at a century-old bar surrounded by Motown and rock-and-roll memorabilia.

Sharing the floor with the club rooms is a Paris-themed “conservatory and park.” Here, outdoor furniture is displayed among artificial olive trees and a 24 ft. tall steel replica of the Eiffel Tower (a flea-market find and a fitting totem of RH’s Francophile design impulses).

Check out “Eiffel Tower“

Gallery at the Historical Museum of Natural History: 34 Berkeley St., Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Website: www.restorationhardware.com.

Park Street Church (Boston, Massachusetts)

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Park Street Church

The Park Street Church, an active, thriving missionary-centered Conservative Congregational church with 2,000 in Sunday attendance and around 1,000 members, is a historical stop on the Freedom Trail located next to the historic Granary Burying Ground.

Check out “Freedom Trail“

Its cornerstone was laid on May 1, 1809 and its construction, under the guidance of architect Peter Banner (his design is reminiscent of St. Bride’s Church in London by famous British architect Christopher Wren), chief mason Benajah Young  and woodcarver Solomon Willard, was completed by the end of the year. On January 10, 1810, it had its first worship service.

The church became known as “Brimstone Corner,” in part because of the fervent missionary character of its preaching and, in part, because of the gunpowder stored in its crypt (which gave off a ferocious smell of sulfur) during the War of 1812.

The church’s beautiful white steeple, a landmark visible from several Boston neighborhoods, rises to 66 m. (217 ft.), making the church the tallest building in the United States from 1810 to 1828. The red brick façade has white accents.  There is a little museum on the first floor.

The church is the site of a number of historical events:

Park Street Church: 1 Park St. cor. Tremont St., Boston, Massachusetts 02108. Tel: (617) 523-3383.  Website: www.parkstreet.org. Open Wednesdays – Fridays, 9:30 AM -3 PM. Worship services: Sundays 8:30 AM, 11 AM and 4 PM. Admission is free.

How to Get There: The church located right across from the Park Street subway stop (Red Line) at the edge of Boston Common.

Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture (Washington D.C., U.S.A.)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, actually a collection of institutions housed in the historic, gloriously renovated Old Patent Office Building, served as one of the earliest United States Patent Office buildings.  Here, Neo-Classicism meets 21st-century exuberance.

The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture

Covering an entire city block defined by F and G Streets and 7th and 9th Streets NW, just south of  Chinatown in downtown Washington, it now houses two Smithsonian Institution museums – the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The building’s Greek Rival-stye facade

It also houses the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery of the Archives of American Art; an art conservation facility (Lunder Conservation Center); an enclosed, 28,000-sq. ft. courtyard (Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard); a 20,400 sq. ft. open storage facility (Luce Foundation Center); a new 356-seat underground auditorium (Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium) and other operations within the Old Patent Office complex. By the end of 2007, more than 786,000 people had visited the two museums and, 10 years later, during the time of my visit, 1.3 million people have visited the place.

Check out “Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art – National Portrait Gallery” and Portraiture and “Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture – Smithsonian American Art Museum”

Before it became what it is today, through the Civil War and into the post-war period, the building was once home to many early government departments. It was used as a hospital, and The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the General Land Office, and the Bureau of Pensions jointly occupied the building with the Patent Office.

National Portrait Gallery

Both Clara Barton and American poet Walt Whitman worked as nurses there during the American Civil War. From 1854 to 1857, Barton worked in the building as a clerk to the Patent Commissioner, the first woman federal employee to receive equal pay. From January 24 to June 30, 1865, Waltman, who frequented “that noblest of Washington buildings” and read to wounded men, worked in Bureau of Indian Affairs before being fired for having a copy of Leaves of Grass in his desk.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Here is the historical timeline of the building:

  • In 1836, construction of the building was started.
  • In 1851, architect Robert Mills was summarily dismissed as Congressional committees questioned his competence and his insistence on design changes that inserted unnecessary supporting columns and tie-rods. Construction continued under the direction of Thomas U. Walter, one of Mills’ harshest critics
  • During the Civil War, the building was turned into military barracks, hospital, and morgue. Wounded soldiers lay on cots in second-floor galleries, among glass cases holding models of inventions that had been submitted with patent applications.
  • In 1865, the building was completed
  • In March 1965, it was chosen as the venue for Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Ball.
  • In 1877, the building’s west wing suffered a fire, destroying some 87,000 patent models
  • From 1877–1885, it was restored by Adolf Cluss in the style he termed “modern Renaissance.”
  • In 1887, the Bureau of Pension moved to the new  Pension Bureau Building.
  • In 1898, the General Land Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs vacated the building.
  • In 1932 the United States Civil Service Commission and the Government Accounting Office occupied the building after the Patent Office vacated it.
  • In 1942, the Government Accounting Office vacated the structure after its new headquarters nearby was complete.
  • In 1952, legislation to tear down the building and sell the land so a private parking garage could be built on the centrally located site was introduced in Congress in the waning days of the 82nd United States Congress but did not pass.
  • On March 21, 1958, Congress unanimously passed legislation authorizing the transfer of the building to the Smithsonian for a national art museum. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the legislation a few days later. Congress appropriated $33.5 million for the renovation.
  • In 1962, Congress passed legislation establishing the National Portrait Gallery
  • In November 1963, the Civil Service Commission moved out of the structure.
  • Starting in 1964, the Faulkner, Kingsbury & Stenhouse firm of architects supervised the renovation of the interior as museum space.
  • In November 1964, preparations for the buildings renovation began
  • On January 12, 1965, the building was designated as a S. National Historic Landmark.
  • By May 1965, the Grunley, Walsh Construction Co. began demolition of non-historic interior structures.
  • On October 15, 1966, it was added to S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP reference No. 66000902).
  • By April 1968, the $6 million renovation was complete
  • In January 1968, the National Museum of American Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) and the National Portrait Gallery opened. The north wing housed the art museum and the south wing housed the portrait gallery. Office space and a cafe occupied the east wing. The center courtyard had outdoor eating space for the cafe and several large trees.
  • In 1970, the renovation won the American Institute of Architects National Honor Award.
  • In 1995, the Smithsonian revealed that the building was in serious disrepair. The roof leaked, netting had to be placed in some galleries to catch falling ceiling plaster, window frames were rotting, the floor tiles in the Great Hall were crumbling, and the exterior facade was so degraded it was shedding fist-sized pieces of rock.
  • In January 1997, the Smithsonian announced that the building would close in January 2000 for a two-year, $42 million renovation (the estimated cost of the renovation then grew, initially in 2000 to $110-120 million). Hartman-Cox Architects was hired to oversee the conservation and repair. To be restored were the porticos modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, a curving double staircase, colonnades, vaulted galleries, large windows, and skylights as long as a city block.
  • Just three years later, as the renovation was about to begin, the cost of repairs had risen to $110 million to $120 million.
  • Prior to the building’s closure in January 2000, a decision was reached to allot about one-third of the building’s total space to the National Portrait Gallery while simultaneously eliminating the informal north–south division between the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Smithsonian resolved the dispute practically – Art that best fit an exhibition space got it. Modern art, which often tends toward large canvases, was installed on the high-ceilinged third floor.
  • By March 2001, as the cost of the renovation rose to $180 million, Nan Tucker McEvoy (a California newspaper heiress and arts patron) donated $10 million for the renovation.
  • Later in 2001, the Henry Luce Foundation gave another $10 million.
  • In June 2001, reconstruction costs were estimated at $214 million.
  • In July 2001, the reopening was pushed back even further to July 2006.
  • In 2003, the government increased its contribution to $166 million and more than $40 million in private funds had been raised.
  • In August 2003, Congress approved a major change to the renovation design – adding a glass roof to the open courtyard in the center of the Old Patent Office Building.
  • In March 2004, the Smithsonian announced that architect Norman Foster of Foster and Partners would design the glass canopy.
  • In early November 2004, the National Capital Planning Commission(NCPC), which has statutory authority to approve all buildings and renovations in the D.C. metropolitan area, approved the preliminary design for the glass canopy.  That same month, real estate development executive Robert Kogod and his wife, Arlene (heiress to Charles E. Smith Construction fortune) donated $25 million to complete the canopy. By then, costs had risen to $298 million. $60 million in private funds still needed to be raised.
  • In January 2005, the United States Commission of Fine Arts, an advisory commission on design, approved the canopy.
  • In April 2005, the Smithsonian said that the canopy would not be ready by the time the museum reopened in July 2006, and would be installed in 2007.
  • On June 2, 2005, the the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) reversed its preliminary approval of the canopy
  • On August 4, 2005, the Smithsonian brought five alternatives to the NCPC.
  • On September 8, 2005, the NCPC reversed itself yet again, and approved one of the revised designs. The delay cost the Smithsonian $10 million.
  • In October 2005, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation made a $45 million donation to the NPG to finish both the building renovation and the canopy. The Smithsonian agreed to call the two museums, the conservation center, courtyard, storage facility, and other operations within the Old Patent Office complex the “Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture” in appreciation for the gift.
  • On July 1, 2006, after undergoing extensive renovations, the building and the Smithsonian American Art Museum was reopened. The total cost of the building’s renovation was $283 million.
  • In just two months, attendance at the renovated building rose significantly to 214,495.
  • On October 7, 1968, the National Portrait Gallery opened to the public.
  • In September 2007, video security cameras were hastily installed to stop vandalism as some patrons spit on art they did not like, while others kissed or touched some paintings.

Luce Foundation Center

The massive building, designed in the Greek Revival style by architect Robert Mills and Thomas U. Walter, took 31 years to complete. Mills spanned the interior spaces with masonry vaulting without the use of wooden beams. Skylights and interior light courts filled the spaces with daylight. It has a sandstone and marble façade, and a central portico modeled after the the Parthenon of Athens, a departure in Washington where previously ambitious public buildings had been based on Roman and Renaissance precedents.

The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture: 8th and F St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.  Tel: 202.633.1000 (recorded information/live voice).  E-mail:  info@si.edu.  Website:   www.si.edu/visit.  Coordinates: 38.89778°N 77.022936°W

National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C., U.S.A.)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

National Gallery of Art – West Building

The National Gallery of Art (NGA), and its attached 2.5-hectare (6.1-acre) Sculpture Garden, is located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. The NGA’s permanent collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces the development of Western Art from the Middle Ages to the present.

Check out “National Gallery of Art – Sculpture Garden”

National Gallery of Art – East Building

The substantial core collection includes major works of art donated founding benefactors Paul Mellon, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Lessing J. Rosenwald, Samuel Henry Kress, Rush Harrison Kress, Peter Arrell Browne Widener, Joseph E. Widener, Chester Dale and Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. In total, the NGA has 271,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space.

Spider (Louise Bourgeois, 1996 – 1997) – Sculpture Garden

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this museum:

Check out “National Gallery of Art – Sculpture Garden” and “Museum of Modern Art”

This national art museum includes the original Neo-Classical West Building (designed by John Russell Pope), which is linked underground to the modern East Building (designed by I. M. Pei). Often, the Gallery presents temporary special exhibitions spanning the world and the history of art.

Check out “National Gallery of Art – West Building” and  “National Gallery of Art – East Building” 

Here is the historical timeline of the museum:

  • During World War I, Andrew W. Mellon, a Pittsburgh banker (and later Treasury Secretary from 1921 until 1932)  began gathering a private collection of old master paintings and sculptures.
  • During the late 1920s, Mellon decided to direct his collecting efforts towards the establishment of a new national gallery for the United States.
  • In 1930, partly for tax reasons, Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, which was to be the legal owner of works intended for the gallery.
  • In 1930–1931, as part of the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings, the Trust made its first major acquisition – 21 paintings from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg including such masterpieces as Raphael‘s Alba Madonna, Titian‘s Venus with a Mirror, and Jan van Eyck‘s Annunciation.
  • In 1929 Mellon had initiated contact with Charles Greeley Abbot, the recently appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
  • In 1931, Mellon was appointed as a Commissioner of the Institution’s National Gallery of Art. When the director of the Gallery retired, Mellon asked Abbot not to appoint a successor, as he proposed to endow a new building with funds for expansion of the collections. However, Mellon’s trial for tax evasion, centering on the Trust and the Hermitage paintings, caused the plan to be modified.
  • In 1935, Mellon announced in The Washington Star, his intention to establish a new gallery for old masters, separate from the Smithsonian. When asked by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on “the attitude of the Government towards the gift.”
  • In January 1937, Mellon formally offered to create the new Gallery.
  • On March 24, 1937, Mellon’s birthday, a joint resolution of the United States Congress accepted the substantial art collection and funds for construction of the building (provided through the Trust), and approved the construction of a museum for the American people on the National Mall. The new gallery, effectively self-governing (not controlled by the Smithsonian Institution), took the old name “National Gallery of Art” while the Smithsonian’s gallery would be renamed the “National Collection of Fine Arts” (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum).
  • On May 23, 1999, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, the final addition to the complex, was completed and opened to the public.
  • In 2011, an extensive refurbishment and renovation of the French galleries were undertaken. In one weekend, as part of the celebration of the reopening of this wing, organist Alexander Frey performed 4 sold-out recitals of music of France in the French Gallery.
  • In 2013, the NGA purchased, from a private French collection Gerard van Honthorst‘s 1623 painting, 1.23 by 2.06-m. (4 by 6.8 ft.) The Concert, which had not been publicly viewed since 1795.

Ginevra de Benci – Obverse (1474-78), the only painting of Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas

The Italian Renaissance collection includes two panels from Duccio‘s Maesta, the tondo of the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, a Botticelli work on the same subject, Giorgione‘s Allendale Nativity, Giovanni Bellini‘s The Feast of the Gods, Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci (the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas) and groups of works by Titian and Raphael.

A Woman Holding a Pink (Rembrandt Van Rijn)

The collections include paintings by many European masters, including a version of Saint Martin and the Beggar, by El Greco, and works by Matthias Grünewald, Cranach the Elder, Rogier van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, Anton Kern, Francisco Goya, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Eugène Delacroix, among others. There are also later works from the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, and Roy Lichtenstein.

The author with the Self Portrait Vincent Van Gogh (1889) in the background

The collection of sculpture and decorative arts includes such works as the Chalice of Abbot Suger of St-Denis and a collection of work by Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas. Other highlights of the permanent collection include the second of the two original sets of Thomas Cole‘s series of paintings titled The Voyage of Life, (the first set is at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York) and the original version of Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley (two other versions are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Detroit Institute of Arts).

Watson and the Shark (John Singlton Copley)

The National Gallery of Art’s print collection began with 400 prints donated by five collectors in 1941.  In 1942, Joseph E. Widener donated his entire collection of nearly 2,000 works and, in 1943, Lessing Rosenwald donated his collection of 8,000 old master and modern prints.  Between 1943 and 1979, Rosenwald donated almost 14,000 more works. In 2008, Dave and Reba White Williams donated their collection of more than 5,200 American prints.  Today, in addition to rare illustrated books, the collection comprises 75,000 prints including collections of works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, William Blake, Mary Cassatt, Edvard Munch, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg.

Walkway to the West Building and Cascade Cafe

A walkway beneath 4th Street, called “the Concourse,” connects the two buildings.  In 2008, the Concourse was transformed into Multiverse, an artistic installation by American artist Leo Villareal. The largest and most complex light sculpture by Villareal, Multiverse featured approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED nodes that run through channels along the entire 200-foot (61 m)-long space.

Multiverse (Leo Villareal)

The concourse also includes a large auditorium for lectures, films, and other educational programs, a smaller auditorium, expansive gallery space, a food court (Cascade Café), bookstore (Concourse Bookstore) and a gift shop (Children’s Shop). Cascade Café serves an ever-changing selection of soups, salads, specialty entrées, burgers, signature sandwiches, and fresh pastries and desserts in a food-court environment.

Cascade Cafe

National Gallery of Art: Constitution Ave. NW (between 3rd and 9th Streets), Washington, D.C..   Tel: (202) 737-4215.  Website: www.nga.gov. Open Mondays to Saturdays, 10 AM – 5 PM, and Sundays, 11 AM to 6 PM.  It is closed on December 25 and January 1. Admission is free.

How to Get There: The most convenient metro stops are Archives/Navy Memorial (Yellow and Green lines; 0.2 miles); Judiciary Square (Red line; 0.5 miles), and Smithsonian (Blue and Orange lines; 0.7 miles).

Smithsonian Castle (Washington D.C., U.S.A.)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Smithsonian Castle a.k.a. Smithsonian Institution Building

The grand, church-like Smithsonian Castle (formally the  Smithsonian Institution Building), is located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., behind the National Museum of African Art and the Sackler Gallery. Housing the Smithsonian Institution‘s administrative offices and information center, the building was built in the Norman Revival style (a 12th-century combination of late Romanesque and early Gothic motifs) to evoke the Collegiate Gothic atmosphere of such venerable colleges such as Cambridge and Oxford in England and the ideas of knowledge and wisdom.

North facade of Castle

The building had its beginnings in 1846 when a building committee held a nationwide design competition and selected the design of 28 year old architect James Renwick, Jr.  by unanimous vote. The first Smithsonian building designed by Renwick (his other works include St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, also in Washington D.C.), a cardboard model of his winning design survives and is on display in the Castle.

James Renwick’s original model of the Smithsonian Castle

Renwick was assisted by Robert Mills, particularly in the internal arrangement of the building. The committee also selected Gilbert Cameron as the general contractor. Construction funds were sourced from “accrued interest on the Smithson bequest.” 

Check out “St. Patrick’s Cathedral (New Your City)”

Using elements from Georg Moller‘s book Denkmäler der deutschen Baukunst (Milestones in German Architecture), James Renwick, Jr. designed the Castle as the focal point of a picturesque landscape on the National Mall.

He also 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, instead, used conventional pattern-book designs. The plan allowed for expansion at either end, a major reason for the informal Medievally-inspired design (which would not suffer if asymmetrically developed).

Initially intended to be built in white marble, then in yellow sandstone, the architect and building committee finally settled on Seneca red sandstone (from the Seneca Quarry in Montgomery County, Maryland) which was substantially less expensive than the granite, marble and light Aquia sandstone used by other major buildings in Washington, D.C. and, while initially easy to work, was found to harden to a satisfactory degree upon exposure to the elements.

Statue of Joseph Henry

Here is the historical and construction timeline of the building:

  • On May 1, 1847, the cornerstone of the Castle was laid in a grand Masonic ceremony
  • In 1849, the East Wing was completed and occupied by Secretary Joseph Henry and his family. Later the same year, the West Wing was completed.
  • In 1850, a structural collapse of partly completed work raised questions of workmanship and resulted in a change to fireproof construction.
  • In 1852, the Castle’s exterior was completed
  • In 1855, Cameron’s interior work was completed.
  • In 1865, despite the upgraded fireproof construction, a fire caused extensive damage to the upper floor of the building, destroying the correspondence of James Smithson, Secretary Joseph 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.
  • From 1865-67, renovation was undertaken by local Washington architect Adolf Cluss. A third and fourth floor were added to the East Wing while a third floor was added to the West Wing.
  • In 1883, further fireproofing work was also done by Cluss (who, by this time, had designed the neighboring Arts and Industries Building).
  • In 1895, electric lighting was installed.
  • Around 1900, the wooden floor of the Great Hall was replaced with terrazzo and a Children’s Museum was installed near the south entrance. A tunnel connected to the Arts and Industries Building.
  • From 1968-70, a general renovation took place to install modern electrical systems, elevators and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
  • In 1987, the Enid A. Haupt Garden and Renwick Gate (also built from Seneca red sandstone retrieved from the demolished D.C. Jail), facing Independence Avenue, were dedicated.
  • On January 1, 1965, the Castle was designated as a National Historic Landmark.
  • On October 15, 1966, it was included in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP reference no. 66000867)

Check out “Enid A. Haupt Garden”

A Castle of Curiosities Exhibit

The building, comprising a central section, two extensions (or ranges) and two wings (East and West), has four towers containing occupiable space and five smaller and primarily decorative towers (although some contain stairs).

The principal tower, on the south side is 28 m. (91 ft.) high and 11 m. (37 ft.) square. On the north side are two towers, the taller one 44 m. (145 ft.) high. A campanile, at the northeast corner, is 5.2 m. (17 ft.) square and 36 m. (117 ft.) high.

The few surviving personal possessions of James Smithson

The central section, as constructed, contains the main entry and museum space (now the Great Hall), with a basement beneath and a large lecture room above.

Two galleries, on the second floor, formerly used to display artifacts, is now the Visitor’s Information and Associates’ Reception area, with interactive displays and 3-D maps pinpointing and detailing the 17 Washington DC-area Smithsonian Institution properties, including museums, galleries and the National Zoological Park.  Here, computers electronically answer most common questions.

Earliest known photograph of the Castle

The first floor of the East Range contained laboratory space with research space on the second floor while the East Wing contained storage space on the first floor and a suite of rooms on the second (as an apartment for the Secretary of the Smithsonian). Currently, this space is used as administrative offices and archives.

Welcome to the Smithsonian Exhibit

The one storey West Range was used as a reading room while the West Wing, known as the chapel, was used as a library. Today, the West Wing and Range are now used as a quiet room for visitors to go.

A crypt, just inside the north entrance, houses the tomb of French-born, British-raised scientist James Smithson. There’s also a coffee and snack shop and a large seating area with free Wi-Fi.

James Smithson Crypt

A Castle of Curiosities exhibit delves into the history of the castle and the little that is known of James Smithson’s life. The Welcome to the Smithsonian exhibit, in high-ceilinged rooms, displays art and artifacts representing all of the institution’s members in old, gleaming wooden display cases. The National Zoo’s “panda cam” shows popular bears and ancient Buddhas from the Sackler Gallery.

Museum Store

Smithsonian Castle:   1000 Jefferson Dr SW, Washington, D.C. Tel:  +1 202-633-1000. Coordinates: 38°53′19.49″N 77°1′33.59″W

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington D.C., USA)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, an art museum  sited halfway between the Washington Monument and the US Capitol, anchoring the southernmost end of the so-called L’Enfant axis (perpendicular to the Mall’s green carpet), is part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Interior court and fountain

Conceived as the United States’ museum of contemporary and modern art, it currently focuses its collection-building and exhibition-planning mainly on the post–World War II period, with particular emphasis on art made during the last 50 years. The museum has a budget of US$8 million, which does not include the US$10 to US$12 million in operational support supplied by the Smithsonian Institution.

Geometric Mouse, Variation I, Scale A (Claes Oldenburg, 1971)

The museum was initially endowed, during the 1960s, with the permanent art collection of more than 6,000 items of Joseph H. Hirshhorn (who enjoyed great success from uranium-mining investments), started  in his forties, which consisted of works from classic French Impressionism as well as those by living artists, American modernism of the early 20th century, and sculpture brought from the Hirshhorns’ Connecticut estate and other properties.

Subcommitee (Tony Cragg, 1991, steel)

Here is the museum’s historical timeline:

  • In 1966, an Act of Congress established the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Most of its funding was federal, but Hirshhorn later contributed US$1-million toward its construction.
  • On July 1967, an original plan, with an elongated, sunken rectangle crossing the Mall with a large reflecting pool across the Mall, designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft, was approved.
  • In 1969, groundbreaking takes place on the former site of the Army Medical Museum and Library (built in 1887) after the brick structure was demolished.
  • On July 1, 1971, after excavation was started, a revised design, with a smaller footprint, was approved. The revised design, deliberately stark, using gravel surfaces and minimal plantings to visually emphasize the works of art, also shifted the garden’s Mall orientation from perpendicular to parallel and reduces its size from 8,100 sq. m. (2 acres) to 5,300 sq. m. (1.3 acres).
  • In 1974, the museum was opened with three floors of painting galleries, a fountain plaza for sculpture, and the Sculpture Garden. In the first six months, one million visitors saw the 850-work inaugural show.
  • In the summer of 1979, the Sculpture Garden was closed.
  • In September 1981, the Sculpture Garden was reopened after a renovation and redesign by Lester Collins, a well-known landscape architect and founder of the Innesfree Foundation. The design introduces plantings, paved surfaces, accessibility ramps, and areas of lawn.
  • In 1985, the Museum Shop is moved to the lobby, increasing exhibition space at its former location on the lower level.
  • On December 1991, the Hirshhorn Plaza is closed.
  • In 1993, Hirshhorn Plaza is reopened after a renovation and redesign by landscape architect James Urban. The 11,000 sq. m. (2.7-acre) area around and under the building is repaved in two tones of gray granite, and raised areas of grass and trees are added to the east and west.
  • In 2013, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden drew around 645,000 visitors.
  • In 2014, the Museum Shop is moved back to the lower level.

Museum Shop

Here are some technical information on the museum:

  • The building and its walls were surfaced with precast concrete aggregate of “Swenson” pink granite
  • The building has a diameter of 231 ft., 115 ft. for the interior court and 60 ft. for the fountain.
  • The building is 82 ft. high and elevated 14 ft. on 4 massive, sculptural piers.
  • The museum provides 5,600 sq. m. (60,000 sq. ft.) of exhibition space on three floors inside and nearly 4 acres outside in its two-level Sculpture Garden and plaza for a total of 197,000 sq. ft. of total exhibition space, indoors and outdoors.
  • It has a 274-seat auditorium at the lower level.
  • There are 2.7 acres around and under the museum building.
  • The 1.3-acre Sculpture Garden, across Jefferson Drive, was sunk 6–14 ft. below street level and ramped for accessibility.
  • The second and third floor galleries have 15-ft. high walls, with exposed 3-ft. deep coffered ceilings.
  • The lower level includes exhibition space, storage, workshops, offices while the fourth floor includes offices and storage.

Pumpkin (Yayoi Kusama, 2016)

The building, an open cylinder elevated on four massive “legs,” with a large fountain occupying the central courtyard, itself is an attraction.  The new federal museum’s modern look and intrusively expansive sculptural grounds is a striking contrast to everything else in the city.

Still Life with Spirit and Xtile (Jimmie Durham, 2007)

At the museum entrance is the deceptively simple Still Life with Spirit and Xitle , one of the most well-known works of art by artist Jimmie Durham (a sculptor who is known for his sense of humor and irreverence), features a slapstick disaster scene (intended to capture the clash between industrial and ancient spirits) of a 1992 Chrysler Spirit being crushed by a 9 ton red basalt boulder with a comical smiley face painted on it.

Woman Verso Untitled (Willem de Kooning, 1948)

Woman Before an Eclipse With Her Hair Disheveled by the Wind (Joan Miro, oil on canvas, 1967)

Notable artists in the Hirshhom collection include Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Hans Hofmann, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, John Chamberlain, Francis Bacon, Willem de Kooning, Milton Avery, Ellsworth Kelly, Louise Nevelson, Arshile Gorky, Edward Hopper, Larry Rivers, and Raphael Soyer among others.

Sleeping Muse I (Constantin Brancusi, 1909-1910, marble)

The Master Works from the Hirshhorn Collection, on view from June 9, 2016 to September 4, 2017, is a new rehanging of the permanent collection galleries at the third-level.  It features more than 75 works in virtually all media, highlights of Joseph Hirshhorn’s original gift, alongside some of the newest additions to the collection.

Untitled – Big Man (Ron Mueck, 2000, pigmented polyester resin on fiberglass)

They include several major artworks returning to view after more than a decade (such as Candian painter Jean-Paul Riopelle’s 1964 Large Triptych), as well as in-depth installations devoted to some of the most important artists in the collection.

Large Triptych (Jean-Paul Riopelle, 1964, oil on canvas)

Dog (Alberto Giacometti, 1951-57)

Exhibited are more than a dozen paintings and works on paper by Dutch abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning alongside sculptures by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, two of the 20th century’s greatest figurative artists.

Eleven A.M. (Edward Hopper, 1928, oil on canvas)

The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire (Ed Ruscha, 1965-68, oil on canvas)

Other cornerstones of the collection on view are Constantin Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse I (1909–10), Edward Hopper’s Eleven A.M. (1926), Edward Ruscha’s The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire (1965–68), French-American artist Louise Bourgeois’ Legs (1986/cast 2008) and Australian sculptor Ron Mueck’s Untitled (Big Man) (2000).

Window (Gerhard Richter, 1968, oil on canvas)

The End of Ending (Eduardo Basualdo, 2012)

In an adjacent room is The End of Ending (2012), a massive sculptural installation by Argentinian artist Eduardo Basualdo which occupies all but a sliver of walkable space in a gallery. R.S.V.P. X (1976/2014), the performative sculpture  by African-American Senga Nengudi (among a group of artists in 1970’s Los Angeles who explored conceptual art in their pursuit of a distinctly African-American aesthetic), also appears at the museum for the first time.

Spearfishing (Peter Doig, 2013)

Siren of the Niger (Wilfredo Lam, 1950, oil and charcoal on canvas)

The exhibition is augmented by a special loan of Scottish painter Peter Doig’s painting Spearfishing (2013), which hangs alongside richly colored canvases by British figurative painter Francis Bacon, American painter Richard Diebenkorn and Cuban artist Wifredo Lam.

Field for Skyes (Joan Mitchell, 1973, oil on canvas)

1962-D (Clyfford Still, oil on canvas)

Some of the most recent additions to the Hirshhorn’s collection are represented by new cultural histories. O Abuso da História  (The Abuse of History, 2014) is a video, by Brazil-based Mexican artist Héctor Zamora, of a riotously destructive group performance at São Paulo’s historic Hospital Matarazzo.

From Continent to Continent (Mario Merz, 1985)

Cuban artist Reynier Leyva Novo’s 5 Nights (2014), from his series “The Weight of History,” in the Lerner Room (overlooking the National Mall), maps revolutionary 20th-century manifestos by Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, and Muammar Gaddafi to conceptual monochromes, based on the amount of ink spilled in the writing of each text.

Iris, Messenger of the Gods (Auguste Rodin)

During our visit to the museum, we also explored three ongoing temporary exhibits – the “Markus Lupertz: Threads of History” Exhibit, the “Linn Meyers: Our View From Here” Exhibit and the “Ai Weiwei: Trace at the Hirshhorn” Exhibit.

Check out “The Markus Lupertz: Threads of History Exhibit” “The Linn Meyers: Our View from Here Exhibit” and “”The Ai Weiwei: Trace at Hirshhorn Exhibit“

The Sculpture Garden, outside the museum, features works by artists including Auguste Rodin, David Smith, Alexander Calder, Jean-Robert Ipoustéguy, Jeff Koons, and others. A permanent installation and a major attraction, since 2007, in the Sculpture Garden is Yoko Ono‘s famous Wish Tree for Washington, DC.

Are Years What? (Mark di Suvero)

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: 700 Independence Ave SW & 7th St SW, National Mall, Washington, D.C. 20560, United States.  Website: www.hirshhorn.si.edu. Admission is free.  Open daily, 10 AM – 5:30 PM.

Lincoln Memorial (Washington D.C., U.S.A.)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

The Neo-Classical Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial, an iconic American national monument built to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States,  is located on the western end of the National Mall , Situated on the Washington Monument–Capitol axis, this Neo-Classical monument overlooks the Potomac River, across from the Washington Monument. Behind it is the bridge to Arlington National Cemetery.  Dedicated in 1922, it is one of several monuments built to honor an American president.

Jandy with the memorial in the background

Since the time of Lincoln’s death, demands for a fitting national memorial had been voiced. In 1868, three years after Lincoln’s assassination, the first public memorial (a statue by Lot Flannery) to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., was erected in front of the District of Columbia City Hall.

Abraham Lincoln

Here is the historical timeline of the statue’s construction:

  • In 1867,Congress passed the first of many bills incorporating a commission to erect a monument for the sixteenth president but the matter lay dormant.
  • At the start of the 20th century, under the leadership of Senator Shelby M. Cullom of Illinois, six separate bills were introduced in Congress for the incorporation of a new memorial commission. The first five bills, proposed in the years 1901, 1902, and 1908, met with defeat because of opposition from Speaker Joe Cannon. The sixth bill (Senate Bill 9449), introduced on December 13, 1910, passed.
  • In 1911, the Lincoln Memorial Commission had its first meeting and U.S. President William H. Taft was chosen as the commission’s president. Progress continued at a steady pace.
  • By 1913, Congress had approved of the Commission’s choice of design and location. With Congressional approval and a $300,000 allocation, the project got underway.
  • On February 12, 1914, a dedication ceremony was conducted
  • The following month, actual construction began.
  • As late as 1920, the decision was made to substitute an open portal for the bronze and glass grille which was to have guarded the entrance.
  • On May 30, 1922, Commission president William H. Taft (who was, by then, Chief Justice of the United States) dedicated the Memorial and presented it to Pres. Warren G. Harding, who accepted it on behalf of the American people. Lincoln’s only surviving son, 78-year-old Robert Todd Lincoln, was in attendance.  Robert Russa Moton, an African American educator and author, was one of the speakers at the dedication.

The Dedication

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the memorial:

  • In 2007, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) ranked the memorial as seventh, among 150 highest-ranked structures, in the AIA  List of America’s Favorite Architecture.
  • It has always been a major tourist attraction and, since 2010, approximately 6 million people visited the memorial annually.
  • Like other monuments on the National Mall – including the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial – the memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks
  • The memorial’s columns, exterior walls and facade are all inclined slightly toward the building’s interior to compensate for a common feature of Ancient Greek architecture – perspective distortions which would otherwise make the memorial appear to bulge out at the top when compared with the bottom.
  • Since the 1930s, the memorial has become a symbolically sacred center focused on race relations, especially for the Civil Rights Movement. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Marian Anderson, the African-American contralto,  to perform before an integrated audience at the organization’s Constitution Hall. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, at the suggestion of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, arranged for a performance, on Easter Sunday of that year, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a live audience of 70,000 and a nationwide radio audience.
  • Since October 15, 1966, the Memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  • The memorial grounds has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.‘s historic “I Have a Dream” speech honoring the president who had issued the Emancipation Proclamation 100 years earlier.  It was delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which proved to be a high point of the American Civil Rights Movement. It is estimated that approximately 250,000 people came to the event. The D.C. police also appreciated the location because it was surrounded on three sides by water, so that any incident could be easily contained.  On August 28, 1983, to reflect on progress in gaining civil rights for African Americans and to commit to correcting continuing injustices, crowds gathered again to mark the 20th anniversary of the Mobilization for Jobs, Peace and Freedom. In 2003, the spot on which King stood, on the landing 18 steps below Lincoln’s statue, was engraved in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the event.
  • The Memorial is replete with symbolic elements. The states of the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death are represented by the 36 columns and the inscriptions (with the dates in which they entered the Union), separated by double wreath medallions in bas-relief, in a frieze above the colonnade. The 48 states in 1922 (the year of the Memorial’s dedication) are represented by the 48 stone festoons above the columns and inscriptions above the cornice, on the attic frieze.  The murals inside portray principles seen as evident in Lincoln’s life: Freedom, Liberty, Immortality, Justice, and the Law on the south wall; Unity, Fraternity, and Charity on the north. Cypress trees, representing Eternity, are in the murals’ backgrounds.
  • The statue has been at the center of two urban legends. Some claimed that the face of Gen. Robert E. Lee, looking back across the Potomac toward Arlington House, his former home (now within the bounds of Arlington National Cemetery), was carved onto the back of Lincoln’s head.  The second popular urban legend is that Lincoln is shown using sign language to represent the president’s initials (his left hand shaped to form an “A” and his right hand to form an “L”). The National Park Service denies both legends.
  • From 1959 (the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth) to 2008, the United States one cent coin depicted the memorial, with statue visible through the columns, on the reverse side.  The front bore a bust of Lincoln. The memorial also appears on the back of the U.S. five dollar bill.  The front bears Lincoln’s portrait.

The One Cent Coin

The Lincoln Memorial, as one of the most prominent American monuments, has been featured in books, films, and television shows that take place in Washington.  By 2003, it had appeared in over 60 films.  In 2009, Mark S. Reinhart compiled some short sketches of dozens of uses of the Memorial in film and television. As of 2017, according to the National Park Service, “Filming/photography is prohibited above the white marble steps and the interior chamber of the Lincoln Memorial.” Today, due to restrictive filming rules, many of the appearances of the Lincoln Memorial are actually digital visual effects.

Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool seen from the Lincoln Memorial

Here a list of some of the movie and television films the memorial has appeared in:

Some of the fluted Doric columns at the colonnade

The Memorial, designed by Illinois-born architect Henry Bacon, in the form of a classic Greek Doric temple, features Yule marble from Colorado. The structure measures 57.8 m. (189.7 ft.) by 36.1 m. (118.5 ft.) and is 30 m. (99 ft.) high. It is surrounded by a peristyle of 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death, and two columns in-antis at the entrance behind the colonnade. Each of the 13 m. (44 ft.) high columns, with a base diameter of 2.3 m. (7.5 ft.), column, is built from 12 drums including the capital.

Cornice and frieze

Above the colonnade is a frieze.  The cornice, composed of a carved scroll regularly interspersed with projecting lions’ heads, is ornamented, along the upper edge, with palmetto cresting. A bit higher is a garland, joined by ribbons and palm leaves, and supported by the wings of eagles. All ornamentation on the friezes and cornices was done by Ernest C. Bairstow.

The Memorial’s 13 to 20 m. (44 to 66 ft.) deep concrete foundation, constructed by M. F. Comer and Company and the National Foundation and Engineering Company, is encompassed by a 57 by 78 m. (187 by 257 ft.) rectangular, 4.3 m. (14 ft.) high granite retaining wall.

The main steps leading up to the shrine on the east side, intermittently spaced with a series of platforms, begin at the edge of the shimmering Reflecting Pool, rise to the Lincoln Memorial Circle roadway surrounding the edifice, then to the main portal.  As they approach the entrance, the steps are flanked by two buttresses each crowned with a 3.4 m. (11-ft.) high tripod carved from pink Tennessee marble by the Piccirilli Brothers.

The author inside the Memorial

The Memorial’s interior is divided into three chambers by two rows of four 15 m. (50 ft.) high Ionic columns, each 1.7 m. (5.5 ft.) across at their base. The 18.3 m.(60 ft.) wide, 22.56 m. (74 ft.) deep, and 18.3 m. (60 ft.) high central chamber houses the statue of Lincoln while the north and south chambers display carved inscriptions of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and his Gettysburg Address, two well-known speeches by Lincoln.

Inscription of the Second Inaugural Address given March 4, 1865 by Lincoln barely one month before the end of the Civil War. Above it is the mural “Unity” done by Jules Guerin. The mural features the Angel of Truth joining the hands of two figures representing the North and South. Her protective wings cradle the arts of Painting, Philosophy, Music, Architecture, Chemistry, Literature, and Sculpture. Emerging from behind the music figure is a veiled image of the Future.

Pilasters, ornamented with fasces, eagles, and wreaths, border these inscriptions. Both inscriptions and adjoining ornamentation were done by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. Each inscription is surmounted by 18.3 by 3.7 m. (60 by 12 ft.) murals (“Unity,” above the Second Inaugural Address on the north wall, and “”Emancipation,” above the Gettysburg Address on the south chamber wall) by Jules Guerin.  The murals’ paint incorporated kerosene and wax to protect the exposed artwork from fluctuations in temperature and moisture.

The inscription of the Gettysburg Address on the south chamber wall. The Gettysburg Address was given by Lincoln on April 19, 1863 in Gettysburg at the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery.

Abraham Lincoln, 1920, the primary statue (of Georgia white marble) of the solitary figure of Lincoln sitting in contemplation, took four years to complete.  It was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers under the supervision of the sculptor, Daniel Chester French.

The sitting statue of Abraham Lincoln

The statue, originally designed to be 3.0 m. (10 ft.) tall, was, on further consideration, enlarged to 5.8 m. (19 ft.) tall, from head to foot (the scale being such that if Lincoln were standing, he would be 8.5 m. or 28 ft. tall), to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the huge chamber.  The widest span of the statue corresponded to its height.

Cheska and Kyle

 Lincoln’s arms rest on representations of Roman fasces.  This subtle touch associates the statue with the Augustan (and imperial) theme (obelisk and funerary monuments) of the Washington Mall.  Between two pilasters discretely bordering the statue (one on each side) and above Lincoln’s head, is engraved an epitaph of Lincoln by Royal Cortissoz.

The Lincoln statue up close.  The open hand represents compassion while the fist means decisiveness. The chair Lincoln is sitting on is Roman it is draped with the American flag.

The statue rests upon an oblong 3.0 m. (10 ft.) high, 4.9 m. (16 ft.) wide and 5.2 m. (17 ft.) deep pedestal of Tennessee marble, directly beneath which is a 10.5 m. (34.5 ft.) long, 8.5 m. (28 ft.) wide and 0.17 m. (6.5 in.) high platform of Tennessee marble. The statue weighed 159 tons (175 short tons) and was shipped in 28 pieces. 

The epitaph of Lincoln by Royal Cortissoz

The ceiling, consisting of bronze girders ornamented with laurel and oak leaves, is set between panels of Alabama marble (saturated with paraffin to increase translucency). Bacon and French felt that the statue required even more light to supplement the natural light so, in 1929, they designed and installed metal slats in the ceiling to conceal floodlights, which could be modulated. In the 1970s, an elevator for handicapped was added.

Bronze girders, ornamented with laurel and oak leaves, at the ceiling

Underneath the Lincoln Memorial are exhibits that provide information on the creation of the memorial and its famous subject.

Civil Rights Exhibit

Lincoln Memorial: 2 Lincoln Memorial Cir NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, USA. Open 24 hours. Rangers are on duty from 9:30 AM to 10 PM daily.

How to Get There: The easiest way to get to the Lincoln Memorial is via Metrorail (the nearest Metro stations are Foggy Bottom and Smithsonian, both on the Orange, Blue and Silver lines) or Metrobus (take the 32, 34 or 36 routes). Capital Bikeshare also has a dock (Daniel French Drive SW) nearby. 

Washington Union Station (Washington D.C., U.S.A.)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Washington Union Station

The 61.62-km. (38.3-mi.) Peter Pan Bus Lines bus ride, via the MD-295 S and Baltimore-Washington Parkway, from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. took us less than an hour and we arrived at the Washington Union Station (the U.S. Capitol’s major train station and transportation hub) parking garage by 9 AM.

What awaited me when I arrived at the 183 m. (600 ft.) long main hall of the station was a soaring masterpiece done in the Neo-Classically-influenced Beaux-Arts style.  Train stations are great expositions of art in public places and the Washington Union Station is one of the grandest examples of this.

Bus parking garage

The station, opened in 1907, is the only railroad station in the nation specifically authorized by the U.S. Congress.  It is the southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor, an electrified rail line extending north through major cities (Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston) and the busiest passenger rail line in the nation.

The station is jointly owned by Amtrak (their headquarters, Amtrak owns the platforms and tracks through the Washington Terminal Company a nearly wholly owned subsidiary, with 99.9% controlling interest) and United States Department of Transportation (they own the station building itself and the surrounding parking lots).  Itis Amtrak railroad’s second-busiest station (with annual ridership of just under 5 million) and the ninth-busiest in overall passengers served in the United States.

Main hall

Union Station, an intermodal facility, also serves MARC and VRE commuter rail services, the Washington Metro, the DC Streetcar, intercity bus lines, and local Metrobus buses.

In 1988, a headhouse wing was added and the original station was renovated for use as a shopping mall, with many shops, cafes and restaurants (the station’s former presidential suite is also now occupied by a restaurant), making it one of the busiest shopping destinations in the United States.  Today, Union Station, one of Washington DC’s busiest and best-known places, is visited by over 40 million people a year.

The author and Jandy at the main hall

The building was primarily designed by William Pierce Anderson of the Chicago architectural firm of D.H. Burnham & Company. Famed architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham (the same architect who planned Baguio City), assisted by Pierce Anderson, was inspired by a number of architectural styles and Classical elements.

For the exterior and main façade, he was inspired by the Arch of Constantine (Rome, Italy) while the great vaulted spaces of the Baths of Diocletian inspired the interior.

Check out “Arch of Constantine”

Grace, Cheska and Kyle

The station was also built on a massive scale, with a façade stretching more than 180 m. (600 ft.) and a waiting room ceiling rising 29 m. (96 ft.) above the floor.

Statues of Centurions (Louis St. Gaudens)

Stone inscriptions and allegorical sculpture were also done in the Beaux-Arts style and expensive materials such as marble, gold leaf, and white granite, from a previously unused quarry, were also used.

Statues of Centurions (Louis St. Gaudens)

In the Attic block, above the main cornice of the central block, stand six, 5.5 m. (18 ft.) high colossal statues, entitled “The Progress of Railroading,” representing deities related to rail transport in the United States created by Louis St. Gaudens, modeled on the Dacian prisoners of the Arch of Constantine and cut by Andrew E. Bernasconi, a high-grade Italian stone workman, between 1909 and 1911.

Their iconography expresses the confident enthusiasm of the American Renaissance movement – Prometheus for Fire;  Thales for Electricity; Themis for Freedom or Justice; Apollo for  Imagination or Inspiration; Archimedes for Mechanics; and Ceres for Agriculture (the substitution of Agriculture for Commerce in a railroad station iconography vividly conveys the power of a specifically American lobbying bloc).

The triumphal arch-like station entrance with the Columbus Fountain in front

St. Gaudens also created the 26 centurions for the station’s main hall. Treating the entrance to a major terminal as a triumphal arch was drawn, by Burnham, upon a tradition launched with the 1837 Euston railway station in London.

The Progress of Railroading

The monumental end pavilions were linked with long arcades, enclosing loggias, in a long series of bays that were vaulted with the lightweight fireproof Guastavino tiles favored by American Beaux-Arts architects. The final aspect owed much to the Court of Heroes at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 (where Burnham had been coordinating architect) in Chicago.

The monument end pavilion linked with long arcades enclosing loggias

 

The prominent setting of Union Station’s façade at the intersection of two of Pierre (Peter) Charles L’Enfant‘s avenues (with an orientation that faced the United States Capitol just five blocks away), in a park-like green setting, is one of the few executed achievements of the City Beautiful movement, elite city planning that was based on the patte d’oie (“goosefoot”) of formal garden plans made by Baroque designers such as André Le Nôtre. Frederick Law Olmstead designed the landscape around the station.

Full-length portrait of Christopher Columbus

The Columbus Fountain (also known as the Columbus Memorial), the centerpiece of Columbus Circle in front of the station, is a public artwork by American sculptor Lorado Taft unveiled on June 7, 1912.  This semicircular double-basin fountain has a 13.7 m. (45 ft.) high shaft, in the center, whose front bears a full-length portrait of explorer Christopher Columbus wearing a mantle and staring forward, with his hands folded in front of him.

The globe representing the Western Hemisphere

Beneath him is a ship prow featuring a winged figurehead that represents the observation of discovery. On top of the shaft is a globe, representing the Western hemisphere, with four eagles on each corner connected by garland.

Elderly man representing the Old World

Two male figures (an elderly man, representing the Old World, on the right, and on the left, a figure of a Native American, representing the New World) decorating the left and right sides of the shaft.

American Indian representing the New World

At the back of the shaft is a low-relief medallion with images of Ferdinand & Isabella.  The left and right side of the fountain are guarded by two lions placed away from the base.

A pair of lions

Washington Union Station: 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, D.C.  Coordinates: 38°53′50″N 77°00′23″W