Masonry Magazine December 1985 Page. 18
COVER STORY
Washington's National Building Museum
Honors Builders of America
The National Building Museum—mandated by Congress in 1980 as a private museum dedicated to the nation's building community—opened its first exhibition galleries to the public October 24, 1985, in Washington, D.C. Housed in the historic, century-old, red-brick Pension Building, it is the nation's only museum focusing on the contractors, craftsmen, architects, engineers and building suppliers who helped build America.
A National Historic Landmark, the Pension Building is one of America's most imposing masonry structures, if only for its grand, immense scale. Designed in 1881 by Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, an architect/engineer who dreamed in terms of architectural splendor, the Pension Building far surpasses in size (roughly double) the Farese Palace in Rome that it emulates. Its majestic Corinthian columns in the Great Hall are the tallest in the world, measuring 75 ft. high by 25 ft. in circumference. The awesome Great Hall (cover picture) measures 316 ft. by 116 ft., reaching 159 ft. at its highest point. It has been described by renowned architect Philip Johnson as the "most astonishing interior space in America."
Gen. Meigs, retired quartermaster general in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the Civil War era, used more than 15.5 million brick in the Pension Building's design. Each of the eight giant Corinthian columns in the Great Hall is built of 55,000 brick which have been plastered over and then marbleized to resemble Sienna marble. "His brickwork should get him into heaven," wrote Henry Mitchell in the Washington Post. "Nowhere else in this city has brick ever been handled so lovingly or with so satisfying a degree of skill. The workmen (who were paid $4 a day) wound up buttering 15.5 million excellent, hard-baked brick, not only in walls enclosing greater space than most cathedrals or any American football field, but in such wonders as the eight interior columns. Meigs fetched many of the best bricklayers from Baltimore and Philadelphia, and kept them going full time."
Completed in 1887, the building cost $886,614, a very modest sum by today's standards. In addition to serving as an office building for government workers distributing pension benefits, Meigs envisioned the Pension Building as a site for national ceremonial events. With three floors of office space situated around the Great Hall, he accomplished both. Inaugural Balls for Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and, more recently, President Reagan have been held there.
The first-phase renovation of the Great Hall to its original spendor was completed in early 1985. The roof of the Pension Building has been replaced and its interior painted the delicate sky blue favored by Meigs. The facade and terra cotta frieze that encircle the building have been cleaned and restored. Two-hundred forty-four busts representing eight prototypical Americans of the building world were cast in plaster and then hoisted 118 ft. to where they now rest in niches just under the roof. Their neir terra cotta originals were made by Washington sculptor Gretta Bader.
According to Susan Rappaport of the National Building Museum's Public Affairs Office, four inaugural exhibitions, each celebrating those who have been instrumental in collaborating on America's great structures, are now open to the public. They include:
• "Building a National Image: Architectural Drawings for the American Democracy," a major exhibition composed of some 80 drawings of federal buildings throughout the country, including the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress and the Lincoln Memorial. On loan from the collections of the National Archives, the Architect of the Capitol and the Library of Congress, many of these drawings are being exhibited for the first time.
• "Samuel Yellin, Master Metalworker" has the purpose of familiarizing the public with the creative genius of America's most talented 20th century metalworker and to illuminate the spirit of collaboration between craftsman, architect and patron.
• "The Anatomy of a Bridge" includes seven three-dimensional models of the Brooklyn Bridge and its impressive masonry support towers, which schematically illustrate the construction of a suspension bridge.
• "The Pension Building: Its Design, Construction and Renovation" includes an audio-visual program that features an "interview with the General." It graphically explains the history, art and architecture of the landmark structure. This exhibition has been made possible by a grant from the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen (BAC) and the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.
These four exhibitions will be on view until February 2, 1986, with the exception of "The Pension Building" which will be a permanent installation at the museum. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Tours of the building are given on Tuesdays at 11 a.m., Thursdays at 12:15, and the first Saturday of each month at 11 a.m. Admission is free.