National Building Museum

National Building Museum Review

Devoted to architecture, design, landscaping, and urban planning, the National Building Museum is the nation's premier cultural organization devoted to the built environment. The open interior of the mammoth redbrick edifice is one of the city's great spaces, and has been the site of many presidential inaugural balls. The eight central Corinthian columns are among the largest in the world, rising to a height of 75 feet. Although they resemble Siena marble, each is made of 70,000 bricks that have been covered with plaster and painted. For years, the annual Christmas in Washington TV special has been filmed in this breathtaking hall.

Highlights

The permanent exhibit Washington: Symbol and City tells the story of the birth and evolution of the backwater that eventually became the nation's capital (beginning by debunking the myth that Washington was built on a swamp!). You can touch the perfectly scaled, intricately detailed models of the White House, the Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, and look at original drawings, building plans, maps, videos, and photographs that trace the city's architectural history.

Among the most popular permanent exhibits is the Building Zone, where kids ages two to six can get a hands-on introduction to building by constructing a tower, exploring a kid-size playhouse, or playing with bulldozers and construction trucks.

There is also a constant series of temporary exhibits: recent ones have covered environmentally sustainable architecture, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and the influential work of modernist designer Marcel Breuer.

Tips

Tours are offered daily at 11:30, 12:30, and 1:30. Interactive Discovery Cart programs for children ages five and up are offered at 10:30 and 2:30 on Saturday and 11:30 and 2:30 on Sunday. Before entering the building, walk down its F Street side. The terra-cotta frieze by Caspar Buberl between the first and second floors depicts soldiers marching and sailing in an endless procession around the building. The architect, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' General Montgomery C. Meigs, lost his eldest son in the Civil War, and, though the frieze depicts Union troops, he intended it as a memorial to all who were killed in the bloody war. Find the café in the museum's Great Hall, and don't miss the highly-regarded shop.