Renwick Gallery

A block from the White House, the Renwick Gallery occupies a Second Empire building begun in 1859 and often described as the first purpose-built art museum in the United States. Designed by James Renwick Jr. for banker William Wilson Corcoran's collection, it still carries the words "Dedicated to Art" above its entrance. It was requisitioned by the Union Army during the Civil War, later housed a federal court, and was saved from demolition in the 1960s before reopening under the Smithsonian in 1972.

Today it is the branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum devoted to American craft and decorative arts, from the nineteenth century to the present. Work in glass, wood, clay, fibre and metal shares space with large installations, and the collection includes pieces such as Wendell Castle's trompe-l'oeil Ghost Clock. The building's grand staircase and the high-ceilinged Grand Salon on the upper floor are attractions in their own right.

The gallery is compact, and it suits visitors interested in materials, making and historic architecture.