I live across the street from a magical place – the National Portrait Gallery and its stunning courtyard. Constructed in the early days of the city (3rd after the White House and the U.S. Capitol), it was built as the home of the U.S Patent Office. Through the years, the stunning structure has been through its share of ordeals: It became a make-shift hospital during the civil war, the upper floors were ravaged by fire in 1877, and in 1953 it was slated for demolition to be replaced by a parking lot. Miraculously, it survived all those tribulations and stands now as one of the noblest buildings in DC and home to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.
The recent renovation takes full advantage of its many remarkable architectural features, including majestic stone colonnades, porticoes (modeled after the Parthenon in Athens), and a curving double staircase. The structure is built around a central courtyard that was recently renovated and enclosed. The courtyard is now one of the great spaces in all of DC (and America). It was undoubtedly inspired by the Great Court at the British Museum in London; Norman Foster and his massive architecture firm Foster + Partners were the architects for both. Some days there is an impossible quietness in this space, surrounded by four walls of some of the finest 19th-century Greek Revival architecture, a soaring sky of undulating glass above, soft monumental marble planters, invisible water floors, extravagant green ficus and 16 black olive trees.
The Art is just as special as the structure it’s housed in – mixing a variety of media including the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the works here portray individuals whose lives tell the American story. It includes American Origins – a selection of chronologically arranged works from the early days of contact between the Native Americans through the Gilded Age. On the west wing of the 2nd floor, one can find the nation's only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House. We also love the Contemporary Art collection on the third floor housed in a bright and peaceful space with soaring ceilings. Finally, one must not miss the Luce Foundation and Conservation Center on the 3rd and 4th floors. There, you will discover thirty-five hundred paintings, sculptures, miniatures, craft objects, and folk art pieces densely installed in cases, shelves and drawers from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
