When in DC stop at the Old Patent Office for some great art
Picture the Smithsonian Institute in your mind. What do you see? The Castle? The Museum of American History? Maybe the Museum of African American History? There is a lot more to it than the “big-name” collections. A recent trip to Washington DC gave me the chance to visit two of the smaller museums in the Smithsonian – The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum . These two collections share a home in the Old Patent Office Building . The building originally opened in 1836 to house the U.S. Patent Office. It served as a hospital during the Civil War, and the Patent Office remained there until moving to a new home in 1932, and the Civil Service Commission and the Government Accounting Office moved in. By the 1950’s the Civil Service commission had moved out and GAO was planning its own new complex and in 1958 the building was transferred to the Smithsonian for use as an art museum. After a renovation, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian ...