Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.) Search this
United States General Services Administration Search this
United States Public Buildings Service Search this
Physical description:
Number of Images: 1 ; Color: Color ; Size: 8w x 10.5h ; Type of Image: Document ; Medium: Paper
Type:
Document
Letters (correspondence)
Paper
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
August 8, 1966
Civil War, 1861-1865
1961-1970
Category:
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Summary:
A letter from A. W. Innamorati, Regional Director of the Public Buildings Service of the General Services Administration, to James Bradley, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, acknowledging the transfer of the U.S. Court of Claims Building, now the Renwick Gallery, to Smithsonian custody.
William Wilson Corcoran began construction on his gallery of art at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in 1859 and hired as the architect James Renwick, Jr., who had designed the Smithsonian Institution Building, or "Castle." The building was seized by the government in 1861 and used as a warehouse and office space for Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs during the Civil War. The building was eventually returned to Corcoran, and opened as his art gallery in 1872. When his collection outgrew the space, he built a new gallery nearby. The building was later used as the U.S. Court of Claims Building until 1965, when it was transferred to the Smithsonian and renovated for use as the Renwick Gallery of Art, devoted to American crafts and decorative arts.
Contained within:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 99, Box 69, Folder: 1