Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
3. CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART
This 1897 building is among the finest Beaux Arts designs in the United States. Note
the atrium with its symmetrical stairway. The art collection inside includes some of
the very best of American and European masterworks. In the American art collec-
tion, works by the Hudson River School and the Luminists are especially strong (for
further details see
Corcoran Gallery of Art
)
.
500 17th St, NW • 202 639 1700 •
Open 10am-5pm Wed-Mon (until 9pm Thu); closed federal holidays; guided tours
noon • Dis. access • Adm
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4. RENWICK GALLERY
Although currently closed for extensive renovations until 2016, this Smithsonian
museum is a gem, with its collections of fine American craft works and art. The
second-floor Grand Salon served as a ballroom and site for special events when the
Corcoran Gallery was located here before 1897. The 1859 structure, named after its
architect, James Renwick, Jr, is a marvelous Second Empire-style building (for fur-
ther details see
Renwick Gallery
).
1661 Pennsylvania Ave, NW • 202 633 7970 •
See
http://americanart.si.edu
for reopening schedule
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5. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER EXECUTIVE OFFICE
BUILDING
This is another Second Empire building, but on a mammoth scale. Many people con-
sider its highly embellished style and daunting proportions - 300,000 sq ft (27,871
sq m) of office space on five stories - to be magnificent, but others agree with es-
teemed U.S. author Mark Twain (1835-1910) and consider it to be “the ugliest build-
ing in America.” The Departments of State, Navy, and War were housed here on its
completion in 1888. Today it houses the majority of offices for White House staff.
Tours are suspended indefinitely.
17th St and Pennsylvania Ave, NW • 202 395
5895
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