National Museum / Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building
 German Roots in Washington

  • Front Elevation of the National Museum Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Front Elevation of the National Museum
  • Interior Perspective, Cluss and Schulze Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Interior Perspective, Cluss and Schulze
  • Front Elevation Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Front Elevation
  • Proposal, U.S. National Museum, General Montgomery Meigs and Adolf Cluss, 1877 Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Proposal, U.S. National Museum, General Montgomery Meigs and Adolf Cluss, 1877
  • Interior construction of the National Museum Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Interior construction of the National Museum
  • Interior construction of the National Museum Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Interior construction of the National Museum
  • Construction at the north entrance of the National Museum Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Construction at the north entrance of the National Museum
  • National Museum Building Committee, 1880 Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    National Museum Building Committee, 1880
  • National Museum Press Ball preparations Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    National Museum Press Ball preparations
  • Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 'The Inauguration of President Garfield in the New ? of the National Museum' Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 'The Inauguration of President Garfield in the New ? of the National Museum'
  • Aerial view of the National Museum, 1880 Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Aerial view of the National Museum, 1880
  • Aerial view of the National Museum, 1880 Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Aerial view of the National Museum, 1880
  • Interior of the National Museum, 1880s Image Credit: Smithsonian Institution
    Interior of the National Museum, 1880s
  • Exterior of the Arts and Industries Building, 1970s Image Credit: Richard Longstreth
    Exterior of the Arts and Industries Building, 1970s
  • Interior of the Arts and Industries Building Image Credit: Richard Longstreth
    Interior of the Arts and Industries Building
  • Exterior of the Arts and Industries Building, 2005 Image Credit: Peter Wanner
    Exterior of the Arts and Industries Building, 2005
Constructed 1879-1881, the original United States National Museum - now the Smithsonian's Arts & Industries Building - was designed by Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze to display the collections gathered for the United States Centennial Exhibition in 1876 in Philadelphia. It was the Smithsonian's first building dedicated solely as a museum. The open spaces included 17 flexible exhibition halls with natural light from all sides and from above.The National Museum occupies a prominent place on the National Mall, close to the Smithsonian Institution's original Castle Building, itself renovated and re-designed by Cluss after a disastrous fire in 1865.

After the natural history collections were moved in 1910 to the newly completed Museum of Natural History on the north side of the Mall, the former National Museum was renamed the Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building.

Considered the architects' masterpiece, the building was closed in 2004 because of safety concerns about the structure's many roofs. It is currently (2010) being restored by the Smithsonian for continuing museum use, but it is unknown when it will be re-opened.