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Smithsonian Institution Building
The Smithsonian Institution Building, more commonly known as the Smithsonian Castle or simply The Castle, is a building on the National Mall housing the Smithsonian Institution's administrative offices and information center. Built as the first Smithsonian museum building, it is constructed of Seneca Quarry, Seneca red sandstone in the Norman architecture, Norman Revival style (a recalling of a 12th-century combination of late Romanesque architecture, Romanesque and early Gothic architecture, Gothic motifs; built in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic and Romanesque Revival architecture, Romanesque Revivalism (architecture), revival styles). It was completed in 1855 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. History The Castle was the first Smithsonian building, designed by architect James Renwick Jr., whose other works include St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, also in Washington D.C. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Mills (architect)
Robert Mills (August 12, 1781 – March 3, 1855) was an American architect and cartographer best known for designing both the first Washington Monument in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the better known Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. He is sometimes said to be the first native-born American to be professionally trained as an architect. Charles Bulfinch of Boston perhaps has a clearer claim to this honor. Mills studied in Charleston, South Carolina, as a student in the lower school at the College of Charleston and of Irish architect James Hoban, and later worked with him on his commission for the White House. This became the official home of US presidents. Both Hoban and Mills were Freemasons. Mills also studied and worked with Benjamin Henry Latrobe of Philadelphia. He designed numerous buildings in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and South Carolina, where he was appointed as superintendent of public buildings. His Washington Monument in Washington, DC was not completed unti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enid A
Enid may refer to: Places *Enid, Mississippi, an unincorporated community *Enid, Oklahoma, a city * 13436 Enid, an asteroid *Enid Lake, Mississippi Given name *Enid (given name), a Welsh female given name and a list of people and fictional characters so named Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Enid'' (film), a 2009 TV film about Enid Blyton, starring Helena Bonham Carter * "Enid" (song) (1992), by the Canadian group Barenaked Ladies *The Enid The Enid are a British progressive rock band founded by keyboardist and composer Robert John Godfrey. Godfrey received his main musical education from The Royal College of Music. He is previously known for his work with Barclay James Harvest ..., a British rock band founded in 1973 Other uses * Enid High School, a public secondary school in Enid, Oklahoma {{disambig, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terrazzo
Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical binding), polymeric (for physical binding), or a combination of both. Metal strips often divide sections, or changes in color or material in a pattern. Additional chips may be sprinkled atop the mix before it sets. After it is cured it is ground and polished smooth or otherwise finished to produce a uniformly textured surface. "Terrazzo" is also often used to describe any pattern similar to the original terrazzo floors. Modern forms of terrazzo include polished concrete. History Terrazzo proper Although the history of terrazzo can be traced back to the ancient mosaics of Egypt, its more recent predecessors come from Italy. The form of terrazzo used today derives partly from the 18th century ''pavimento alla Veneziana'' ( Venetian pavement) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arts And Industries Building
The Arts and Industries Building is the second oldest (after The Castle) of the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Initially named the National Museum, it was built to provide the Smithsonian with its first proper facility for public display of its growing collections. The building, designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, opened in 1881, hosting an inaugural ball for President James A. Garfield. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971. After being closed since 2004 for repair and renovation, the building reopened in 2021 with a special exhibition, ''Futures.'' Description The Arts and Industries Building was sited slightly farther back from the Mall than the Smithsonian Castle to avoid obscuring the view of the Castle from the Capitol. The building was designed to be symmetrical, composed of a Greek cross with a central rotunda. The exterior was constructed with geometric patterns of polychrome brick, and a sculpture en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolph Cluss
Adolf Ludwig Cluss (July 14, 1825 – July 24, 1905) also known as Adolph Cluss was a German-born American immigrant who became one of the most important, influential and prolific architects in Washington, D.C., in the late 19th century, responsible for the design of numerous schools and other notable public buildings in the capital. Today, several of his buildings are still standing. He was also a City Engineer and a Building Inspector for the Board of Public Works. Red brick was Cluss' favorite building material; that, and his early communist sympathies, led some to dub him the "Red Architect", though he was a man who in later life became a confirmed Republican. Life He was born on July 24, 1825, in Heilbronn in the Kingdom of Württemberg in Southwest Germany. He was the fifth child of Johann Heinrich Abraham Cluss (1792–1857) and Anna Christine Neuz (1796–1827). His father was a master builder, and young Cluss set out as an itinerant carpenter when he left Heilbronn at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of America, Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by U.S. state, states that had Secession in the United States, seceded from the Union. The Origins of the American Civil War, central conflict leading to war was a dispute over whether Slavery in the United States, slavery should be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prohibited from doing so, which many believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction. Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War, Decades of controversy over slavery came to a head when Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery's expansion, won the 1860 presidential election. Seven Southern slave states responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort ( , different from that of Beaufort, North Carolina) is a city in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston, South Carolina, Charleston. Beaufort is known as the "Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands". The city's population was 13,607 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton metropolitan area. Beaufort is located on Port Royal Island, in the heart of the Sea Islands and South Carolina Lowcountry. The city is renowned for its scenic location and for maintaining a historic character by preservation of its antebellum architecture. The prominent role of Beaufort and the surrounding Sea Islands during the Reconstruction era after the U.S. Civil War is memorialized by the Reconstruction Era National Monument, established in 2017. The city is also known for its military establishments, being located in close proximit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 census made it the List of cities in Virginia, sixth-most populous city in Virginia and List of United States cities by population, 169th-most populous city in the U.S. Alexandria is a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area, which is part of the larger Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. Like the rest of Northern Virginia and Central Maryland, present-day Alexandria has been influenced by its proximity to the U.S. capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the United States federal civil service, federal civil service, in the United States Armed Forces, U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to Government contractor, provide services to the Federal government of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Mix Stanley
John Mix Stanley (January 17, 1814 – April 10, 1872) was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in the Finger Lakes region of New York, he started painting signs and portraits as a young man. In 1842 he traveled to the American West to paint Native American life. In 1846 he exhibited a gallery of 85 of his paintings in Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville. During the Mexican–American War, he joined Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney's expedition to California and painted accounts of the campaign, as well as aspects of the Oregon Territory. Stanley continued to travel and paint in the West, and mounted a major exhibit of more than 150 works at the Smithsonian Institution in 1852. Although he had some Congressional interest in purchasing the collection, he was unsuccessful in completing a sale to the government. He never recovered his expenses for a decade of intensive wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Smithson
James Smithson (c. 1765 – 27 June 1829) was a British chemist and mineralogist. He published numerous scientific papers for the Royal Society during the early 1800s as well as defining Calamine (mineral), calamine, which would eventually be renamed after him as "smithsonite". He was the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution, which also bears his name. Born in Paris, France, as the illegitimate child of Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie and Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Hugh Percy (born Hugh Smithson), the 1st Duke of Northumberland, he was given the French name Jacques-Louis Macie. His birth date was not recorded and the exact location of his birth is unknown; it is possibly in the Pentemont Abbey. Shortly after his birth he British nationality law, naturalized to Britain where his name was Anglicisation, anglicized to James Louis Macie. He adopted his father's original surname of Smithson in 1800, following his mother's death. He attended university at Pembr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. He also served as president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1868 to 1878. While building electromagnets, Henry discovered the electromagnetism, electromagnetic phenomenon of self-inductance. He also discovered mutual inductance independently of Michael Faraday, though Faraday was the first to make the discovery and publish his results. Henry developed the electromagnet into a practical device. He invented a precursor to the electric doorbell (specifically a bell that could be rung at a distance via an electric wire, 1831) and electric relay (1835). His work on the electromagnetic relay was the basis of the practical electrical telegraph, invented separately by Samuel Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse and Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
