Smithsonian Institution Building
- Sobriquet: The Castle
- Address: Jefferson Dr SW
- Vicinity: L'Enfant Plaza
- Outdoor Space of The Mall in Washington, DC
The Smithsonian Institution Building, a National Historic Landmark, was designed by the prominent New York architect, James Renwick Jr, who would later design the Renwick Gallery (originally the Corcoran Gallery of Art ) in Washington, and erected on the Mall between 1847 and 1855. Chartered by Congress in 1846, the Smithsonian was established due to the generous bequest of approximately $500000 by James Smithson, an English scientist and illegitimate son of the Duke of Northumberland. Its Congressional charter established a Board of Regents who were directed to construct a "suitable building of plain and durable materials and structure, without unnecessary ornament, and of a sufficient size, and with suitable rooms or halls, for the reception and arrangement, upon a liberal scale of objects...." The items to be exhibited were specifically confined to the fields of natural history, art and objects of "foreign and curious research." - NPS