Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building

The Arts and Industries Building is recognized by its polychrome brick facade, which features intricate geometric patterns and towers rising above the National Mall. Designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze and completed in eighteen eighty-one, the structure was built to house the overflow of artifacts from the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of eighteen seventy-six. Originally named the United States National Museum, it provided the Smithsonian Institution with its first facility dedicated to the public display of its expanding collections, ranging from natural history specimens to industrial inventions.