May 2013
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
      1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30
 31
  

           

Browse Full Calendar


Buy Tickets

Past Exhibitions 1985-2002

The National Building Museum has hosted a wide variety of exhibitions about the built environment since it was created by an act of Congress in 1980. Over the years, our exhibitions have focused on many different themes about architecture, design, planning, and social history. View the list below to explore the rich history of exhibitions at the National Building Museum!

National Building Museum Past Exhibitions

In chronological order by opening date

1985:

  • Anatomy of a Bridge: Seven Steps in Constructing the Brooklyn Bridge (October 1985 – May 1986).
  • Building a National Image: Architectural Drawings for the American Democracy, 1789-1912 (October 1985 – February 1986)
  • America's Master Metalworker: Samuel B. Yellin, 1885-1940 (October 1985 – July 1987)
  • An Architectural Wonder: The U.S. Pension Building (October 1985 – July 1987)

1986:

  • Built for the People of the United States of America: Fifty Years of TVA Architecture (March 1986 – September 1986)
  • Ornamental Architecture Reborn: A New Terra Cotta Vocabulary (June 1986 – November 1986)
  • Good Design in the Community: Columbus, Indiana (October 1986 – January 1987)
  • American Decorative Window Glass, 1860-1890: The Home as a Heaven Below (December 1986 – July 1987)

1987:

  • Hugh Ferriss: Metropolis (February 1987 – May 1987)
  • Twenty Years of Restoration in Venice, 1966-1986 (October 1987 – January 1988)
  • Liberty: The French-American Statue in Art and History (November 1987 – February 1988)

1988:

  • Sheet Metal Craftsmanship: Progress in Building (January 1988 – October 1988)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • James Wilson Rouse: Urban Visionary (March 1988 – November 1988)
  • The Old Pension Building (June 1988 – February 1990)
  • Thomas Tefft: American Architecture in Transition, 1845-1860 (August 1988 – October 1988)
  • Best Addresses: A Century of Washington's Distinguished Apartment Houses (September 1988 – April 1989)
  • Viollet-le-Duc: Architect, Artist, Master of Historic Preservation (October 1988 – December 1988)
  • Documenting Our Heritage: The Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, 1988 Projects (December 1988 – February 1989)

1989:

  • Samuel Yellin (March 1989 – July 1989)
  • In Pursuit of Excellence:  The Federal Judiciary Office Building Competition (March 1989 - August 1989)
  • The Experimental Tradition: Twenty-Five Years of American Architectural Competitions, 1960-1985 (April 1989 – July 1989)
  • Displays of Three Design Competitions for Memorials to be Built in Washington, D.C.: Korean War Veterans Memorial, National Peace Garden, and Women in Military Service for America Memorial (May 1989 – January 1990)
  • Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection (September 1989 – March 1990)
  • The Making of a Monument: The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, Part I (October 1989 – February 1990)
  • Architecture in Academia: An Exhibition of Student Work (November 1989 – March 1990)
  • For the Record: How the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record Documents America's Heritage (December 1989 – February 1990)

1990:

  • Engineering Excellence Awards Competition (March 1990 – April 1990)
  • Competitions x 3 (traveling version of the memorial design exhibition) (March 1990 – February 1991)
  • Building by Design: Architecture at IBM (March 1990 – October 1990)
  • The Making of a Monument: The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, Part II (May 1990 – September 1990)
  • Four Washington Banks (May 1990 – September 1990)
  • Money Matters: A Critical Look at Bank Architecture (May 1990 – September 1990)
  • To Build a Bridge (Reinstallation of "Anatomy of a Bridge") (September 1990 – December 1993)
  • Give Us Your Best: An Exhibition of Washington Architects' Work (October 1990 – December 1990)
  • The Blue Ridge Parkway (October 1990 - August 1991)
  • Windows Through Time: American Windows From the 1630s to the 1930s (November 1990 – July 1991)
  • Heritage to Build/Heritage to Keep: 1990 General Services Administration Design Awards (November 1990 – August 1991)
  • Yale University School of Architecture Design Studios (December 1990 – January 1991)

1991:

  • Architects in the Making: Visions and Reality (January 1991 – February 1991)
  • Ideal Places: Rockefeller Visions for America (March 1991 – September 1991)
  • Mondo Materialis (April 1991 – September 1991)
  • Washington: Symbol and City (v.1) (June 1991 – September 3, 2001) 
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Building a Landmark: The National Building Museum's Historic Home (Fall 1991 – September 3, 2001)
  • Urban Land Institute Awards for Excellence (November 1991 – March 1992)
  • Held in Common: Historic Architecture in America's National Parks (December 1991 – February 1992)

1992:

  • Architects in the Making: Perspectives From Four Schools (April 1992 – May 1992)
  • Making it Work: Pittsburgh Defines a City (April 1992 – September 1992)
  • Interface Berlin: Images of a City (May 1992 – July 1992)
  • Choosing Futures: Planning America's Communities (May 1992 – August 1992)
  • Visions/Revisions: The Second DC/AIA Biennial Exhibition (October 1992 – January 1993)
  • From Mars to Main Street: America Designs, 1965-1990 (November 1992 – February 1994)

1993:

  • Women of Design (January 1993 – May 1993)
  • The Art of Architecture: The Pritzker Architecture Prize (March 1993 – April 1993)
  • Architects in the Making: Perspectives From Four Schools (May 1993 – June 1993)
  • La Casa de Todos Nosotros (A House For Us All) (July 1993 – January 1994)

1994:

  • Barn Again! (March 12, 1994 – September 11, 1994)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • The Art of Building in North Carolina (May 10, 1994 – November 13, 1994)
  • Saudi Arabian Art and Sport Architecture (June 18, 1994 – July 4, 1994)
  • Visions of Home: Architects' Explorations of Dwelling and Community (October 6, 1994 – March 26, 1995)
  • World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building Changed a Nation (November 11, 1994 – December 31, 1995)
  • Making It in the Birmingham District (December 15, 1994 – June 4, 1995)

1995:

  • Building a Federal Legacy: The 1994 General Services Administration Design Awards (March 10, 1995 – April 9, 1995)
  • Ticket to Paradise (May 4, 1995 – October 15, 1995)
  • Fragile Dwelling: Photographs of Homeless Communities by Margaret Morton (June 15, 1995 – November 8, 1995)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • The Dome: Symbol of American Democracy (October 20, 1995 – April 14, 1996)
  • "We Will Be Back": Oklahoma City Rebuilds (November 17, 1995 – May 5, 1996)
  • Chairmania (November 20, 1995 – January 14, 1996)

1996:

  • The New American Ghetto: Photographs by Camilo José Vergara (January 26, 1996 – May 5, 1996)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • A Recent View of Architecture: Photographs by Paul Warchol (February 16, 1996 – April 14, 1996)
  • Building the Ballyhoo: Architectural Photography by the Wurts Brothers Company (February 16, 1996 – August 18, 1996)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Between Fences (May 31, 1996 – January 5, 1997)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Three Buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright: American Spirit Alive in Japan (June 21, 1996 – February 18, 1997)
  • The Pull of Beauty (June 27, 1996 – August 11, 1996)
  • Architectural Watercolors by Lauretta Vinciarelli (September 13, 1996 – November 10, 1996)
  • An American Embassy in Berlin (November 1996 - March 1997)
  • "Go Out Into the Street": Views of the City from the Washington Print Club (November 21, 1996 – March 9, 1997)

1997:

  • CityVision: Student Projects from the National Building Museum (February 28, 1997 – March 20, 1997)
  • The Man Who Built Washington: John McShain and the American Construction Industry (February 14, 1997 – April 20, 1997)
  • Views of Washington: Perspective Drawings by Mori Shizume (February 14, 1997 – May 1997)
  • Building for the People of the United States of America: The GSA 1996 Design Awards (March 20, 1997 – May 4, 1997)
  • Tools as Art II: Exploring Metaphor (April 11, 1997 – September 28, 1997)
  • Capital Visions: Architects Revisit L'Enfant, New Plans for the Millennium (May 1, 1997 – October 26, 1997)
  • Main Street Five-and-Dimes: The Architectural Heritage of the S. H. Kress & Co. Stores (May 9, 1997 – March 15, 1998)
  • Lying Lightly on the Land: Building America's National Park Roads and Parkways (June 6, 1997 – January 11, 1998)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Sheltered by Design (June 20, 1997 – January 1998)
  • Tools as Art III: All Saws (October 31, 1997 – April 19, 1998)
  • Planning Washington's Monumental Core: L'Enfant to Legacy (November 24, 1997 – June 30, 1998)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Civics Lessons: Recent New York Public Architecture (December 5, 1997 – May 11, 1998)

1998:

  • Breaking Through: The Creative Engineer (February 26, 1998 – November 8, 1998)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Completing the Federal Triangle: The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (April 19, 1998 – September 27, 1998)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Building Culture Downtown: New Ways of Revitalizing the American City (May 2, 1998 – January 3, 1999)
  • The Business of Innovation: Bechtel's First Century (June 5, 1998 – January 4, 1999)
  • Tools as Art IV: Material Illusions (June 26, 1998 – May 16, 1999)
  • City Satire: The Cartoons of Roger K. Lewis (October 15, 1998 – February 28, 1999)
  • Main Street Five-and-Dimes: The Architectural Legacy of the S. H. Kress & Co. Stores (traveling exhibition; on view at Museum between venues) (November 1998 – Winter 2001)
  • Forgotten Gateway: The Abandoned Buildings of Ellis Island (November 12, 1998 – May 2, 1999)
  • El Nuevo Mundo: The Landscape of Latino Los Angeles (December 3, 1998 – March 28, 1999)

1999:

  • Hugh Newell Jacobsen, Architect: A Retrospective (January 30, 1999 – August 15, 1999)
  • Breaking Through: The Creative Engineer (traveling exhibition) (February 1999 – December 2001)
  • Personal Edens: The Gardens and Film Sets of Florence Yoch (February 12, 1999 – April 4, 1999)
  • An Urban Experiment in Central Berlin: Planning Potsdamer Platz (March 24, 1999 – September 19, 1999)
  • Continuing the Legacy: The 1998 GSA Design Awards (March 25, 1999 – September 5, 1999)
  • Where Do We Go From Here: Smart Growth and Choices for Change (April 20, 1999 – September 7, 1999)
  • Stay Cool! Air Conditioning America (May 1, 1999 – January 2, 2000)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Titanium! (May 20, 1999 – July 18, 1999)
  • Visions for a New Century: Washington Architects Share Their Visions for the First Century of the New Millennium (June 11, 1999 – October 3, 1999)
  • Tools as Art V: Fantasy at Work (June 30, 1999 – January 9, 2000)
  • Investigating Where We Live (August 1, 1999 – September 1, 1999)
  • The Corner Store (September 23, 1999 – August 6, 2000)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Reimagining the Suburbs: Smart Growth and Choices for Change (October 22, 1999 – March 26, 2000)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • See the U.S.A.: Automobile Travel and the American Landscape (November 19, 1999 – July 9, 2000)
    View the exhibition brochure.

2000:

  • Scale: The Architectural League's Young Architects Forum 1999 (January 14, 2000 – April 16, 2000)
  • Frank Lloyd Wright: Windows of the Darwin D. Martin House (February 17, 2000 – August 20, 2000)
  • The White House in Miniature (March 29, 2000 – September 17, 2000)
  • Reinvigorating Cities: Smart Growth and Choices for Change (April 19, 2000 – September 6, 2000)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Nature Constructed/Nature Revealed: Eco-Revelatory Design (April 27, 2000 – October 22, 2000)
  • Investigating Where We Live (August 1, 2000 – September 1, 2000)
  • WOOD: An American Tradition (September 9, 2000 – April 22, 2001)
  • Tools as Art VI: Instruments of Change (September 16, 2000 – February 9, 2004)
  • Metropolitan Perspectives: Smart Growth and Choices for Change (October 11, 2000 – March 4, 2001)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Drawing for the Future: Design Drawings for the 1939 New York World's Fair (October 13, 2000 – January 14, 2001)
  • Monuments, Mills, and Missile Sites: Thirty Years of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) (October 26, 2000 – May 20, 2001)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • On the Job: Design and the American Office (November 18, 2000 – August 19, 2001)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Ten Shades of Green (December 2, 2000 – February 14, 2001)
    View the exhibition brochure.

2001:

  • The Architecture of Reassurance: Designing Disney Theme Parks (March 17, 2001 – August 5, 2001).
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Federal Design Now! The 2000 GSA Design Awards (March 29, 2001 – July 8, 2001)
  • The Architecture of R.M. Schindler (June 29, 2001 – October 14, 2001)
  • Creative Works in the City (June 7, 2001 – July 4, 2001)
  • From Arts and Crafts to Modern Design: The Architecture of William L. Price (August 18, 2001 – March 24, 2002)
  • Cesar Pelli: Connections (September 12, 2001 – April 28, 2002)
  • Monuments and Memory: Washington D.C. Architects Explore the Language of Monuments (September 29, 2001 – February 3, 2002)
  • A Genius for Place: American Landscapes of the Country Place Era (October 6, 2001 – February 18, 2002)
  • Twin Towers Remembered: Photographs by Camilo José Vergara (November 10, 2001 – March 10, 2002)

2002:

  • On Track: Transit and the American City (January 26, 2002 – October 29, 2002)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Modeled Space/Space Modeled (January 31, 2002 – March 31, 2002)
  • A New World Trade Center: Design Proposals (April 6, 2002 – June 10, 2002)
  • Windows on Work: Building America from the Collections of the Washington Print Club (April 17, 2002 – August 11, 2002)
  • The Turner City Collection: Rendering a Century of Building (May 4, 2002 – November 3, 2002)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Windshield: Richard Neutra's House for the John Nicholas Brown Family (May 25, 2002 – August 18, 2002)
  • Building America (online exhibition) (June 14, 2002 – April 30, 2008)
  • Creative Works in the City (June 6, 2002 – July 7, 2002)
  • Zaha Hadid Laboratory (August 17, 2002 ─ November 17, 2002)
  • Me, Myself and Infrastructure: Private Lives and Public Works in America (October 4, 2002 ─ February 16, 2003)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Do It Yourself: Home Improvement in 20th-Century America (October 17, 2002 ─ August 10, 2003)
    View the exhibition brochure.
  • Pentagon Memorial Competition – Stage One Entry Display (October 30, 2002 – November 9, 2002)

For a list of exhibitions after 2003, please visit the main past exhibitions page, where you will find links to individual exhibition web pages and additional information.