Description: The Smithsonian Institution’s first building, the Castle, was designed by architect James Renwick. Until 1881, it housed all aspects of Smithsonian operations, including research, administration, lecture and exhibit halls, library, laboratories, collections storage, and living quarters for the Secretary. Today, the Castle houses administrative offices and the Smithsonian
Description: Natural history specimens and ethnographic artifacts were among the earliest collections of the US National Museum. In 1910, the National Museum of Natural History building opened to showcase these collections. Wings were added in the 1960s, and a collections storage facility in Maryland opened in 1983 to help house the National Museum of Natural History’s 126 million objects.