Aerial View of Smithsonian Institution Building and Natural History Building

ID: 2002-10673

Creator: Army Air Corps

Form/Genre: Photographic print

Date: 1932

Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 67, Folder: 15

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Summary

Aerial view from the south showing the Smithsonian Institution Building with the United States National Museum, now the National Museum of Natural History, across the Mall. South of the SIB are visible the Astrophysical Observatory sheds, the South Shed, and the elongated Air Museum in a temporary metal building. The South Yard is flanked on the left with the Freer Gallery of Art, opened to the public in 1923, and on the right with the Arts and Industries Building. On the right are temporary buildings erected during World War I and behind them is Center Market. The Mall is landscaped with winding footpaths and dense clusters of trees, reminiscent of Andrew Jackson Downing's 1851 plan for the Mall grounds. In the early 1930s the Mall was leveled and the trees cleared as part of the McMillan Commission's efforts to return Washington to the L'Enfant plan.

Subject

  • Arts and Industries Building
  • Freer Gallery of Art
  • National Air and Space Museum
  • National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)
  • Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
  • Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.)
  • South Yard
  • National Air Museum (U.S.)
  • Natural History Building

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

The original negative number is 21393, but that negative has been lost. Note on back of photo reads, 'Used by Artist Garet Jex in making painting for Chicago Exposition.'

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 67, Folder: 15

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1932

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Museum buildings
  • WW I
  • Temporary government buildings
  • Temporary Buildings
  • World War, 1914-1918
  • Horticulture
  • Gardens
  • Sheds

Place

  • District of Columbia
  • Southwest
  • Mall, The (Washington, D.C.)
  • United States of America
  • National Mall
  • Center Market
  • Washington (D.C.)
  • Washington

Form/Genre

  • Photographic print
  • Aerial

ID Number

2002-10673

Physical description

Color: Black and White; Size: 8 1/4w x 6 1/4h; Type of Image: Aerial; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

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