Building a Landmark: The National Building Museum's Historic Home
The National Building Museum was designed in the 1880s by Montgomery C. Meigs to house the Pension Bureau. The building’s exterior dimensions are 400 feet x 200 feet, and 75 feet high to cornice level.
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An exterior frieze measuring 1,200 feet long and 3 feet high wraps the building. The frieze depicts a parade of Civil War military units and was designed by Bohemian-born sculptor Caspar Buberl (1834-1889).
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The Museum’s pedimented windows are separated by belted courses and vary on each level according to Renaissance practice.
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The Great Hall’s Corinthian columns are among the tallest interior columns in the world, measuring 75 feet high, 8 feet in diameter, and 25 feet in circumference.
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The historic Pension Building under construction between 1882 and 1887.
Collection of the National Building Museum |
Urns, 76 in total, are the crowning detail of the Museum’s arcade galleries. The original terra cotta urns were removed in 1900 and plaster replicas are now in place.
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234 busts representing the building occupations— created to replace the missing originals—fill the niches about the center court.
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In 1885, Grover Cleveland began the tradition of hosting presidential activities in the Great Hall; a tradition that lives on in present day.
Harper's Weekly, p. 209, 16 March 1889 |
The historic Pension Building was Montgomery C. Meigs (1816-1892) last work of architecture and is widely considered his most important.
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Designed in 1881 by civil engineer and U.S. Army General Montgomery C. Meigs and completed in 1887, the building was originally built to house the Pension Bureau and was later occupied by many government agencies.
Once threatened with demolition, the building is now acknowledged to be an engineering marvel. An ingenious system of windows, vents, and open archways creates the famous Great Hall, a reservoir of light and air. The impressive Italian Renaissance design, with its central fountain and eight colossal Corinthian columns -- among the tallest interior columns in the world -- has also made the Great Hall a sought -after spot for gala events -- including fourteen Presidential inaugural balls from 1885 to present day.
The building was constructed between 1882 and 1887, originally cost $886,614.04 to build and is built of 15,500,000 bricks with brick and terra cotta ornament. The building measures 400 feet by 200 feet and is 75 feet to the cornice level.
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