Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian is in Washington, D.C., in the United States.

Its first building is made of red stone. It has lots of towers, like a castle. People call it the Castle.

The Smithsonian Institution began with a gift. James Smithson, a scientist from England, left his fortune to the United States to found an establishment in Washington 'for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men'. In 1846 Congress set up the Smithsonian to carry out his wish.

Its first building stands on the south side of the National Mall in Washington. Architectural Record says it is known as 'the Castle' thanks to its tall turrets, square towers and red sandstone front. Histories of the National Mall, from George Mason University, says it opened in 1855 as the first museum on the Mall.

The preamble to the Smithsonian's founding laws, quoted in the notes to the United States Code, records that 'James Smithson, esquire, of London' left the whole of his property to the United States to found at Washington 'an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men', and that Congress accepted the trust. Today's law still names the President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice and the heads of executive departments as the 'establishment' called the Smithsonian Institution.

The Smithsonian Institution Building stands on the south side of the Mall at Tenth Street. Its 1971 National Historic Landmark nomination calls it the finest remaining example of Norman Revival civil architecture in the country; other writers call its style Gothic Revival. Histories of the National Mall describes it as the first museum on the Mall.

The Castle has eight towers. No two of them are the same!

Inside, a great hall was made for museum displays. Upstairs there was a lecture room for 2,000 people.

The building's eight towers are its most interesting outside feature, the nomination says, and each is different in height and design. The south tower is 91 feet high, and a double bell tower, or campanile, reaches 117 feet.

When it opened, the building held a museum hall, a library, laboratories, an art gallery and a lecture room for 2,000 people. In January 1865 a fire destroyed the main towers, the roof and the second floor of the central section. The Washington architect Adolph Cluss led the rebuilding.

The building of 1847–1855 had five main parts, a central section, two wings and two connecting ranges, with four principal towers and five minor ones; the 1971 nomination later counts eight towers, all different, among them the south tower (37 ft square including buttresses, 91 ft high) and a double campanile at the northeast corner (117 ft to its finial). The central section's upper story held a lecture room for 2,000 people; the first story was a great museum hall, empty in 1855 for lack of cases, which Joseph Henry called 'in appearance one of the most imposing rooms in this country'.

On the night of January 24, 1865, fire destroyed the principal south tower, the two principal north towers, the second floor and the roof of the central section. Adolph Cluss directed the renovation from 1865, lining the cracked towers with brick and rebuilding the south tower in six stories. The nomination also describes a former vestibule turned into a Children's Museum, with birds in glass cases and aquariums 'chosen to excite the wonder of children'.

In the photo, the red Castle has gray roofs and many towers.

In front of it is a garden with neat green squares. Two pavilions with pale roofs stand at the bottom.

This photo was taken from the air in September 2006 by Carol M. Highsmith. The red Castle stretches across the middle, with gray roofs and towers of many shapes; a tall tower at the back has a flag on top. In front lies a formal garden with paths and patterned lawns, the Enid A. Haupt Garden, and at its far end stand two pavilions, one with pointed roofs and one with domes. Behind the Castle are the lawns of the National Mall.

In January 2023 the Smithsonian announced that the Castle would close for a renovation of about five years, expected to finish in 2028, and that its garden would stay open.

Carol M. Highsmith's aerial photograph (20 September 2006, Library of Congress collection) looks across the Castle from its garden side: the long red building with slate-gray roofs, the massive south tower facing the garden, and behind it the taller north towers, one flying a flag, with the Mall's lawns beyond. The formal Enid A. Haupt Garden fills the foreground; at its far end are two pavilions, one under pointed roofs and one under domes.

Architectural Record reported in January 2023 that the Castle, then home to the Smithsonian's administrative headquarters and main Visitor Center, would close on February 1 for a top-to-bottom renovation, its first since the late 1960s, expected to be finished in 2028, with its red sandstone façade unchanged. The four-acre garden and the paths to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the National Museum of African Art were to stay open.