Building
It resides in the National Historic Landmarked Old Patent Office Building (now renamed the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture), located just south of Chinatown in the Penn Quarter district of downtown Washington. The third oldest federal building in the city, constructed between 1836 and 1867, the marble and granite museum has porticoes modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.
The building was used as a hospital during the American Civil War. Walt Whitman worked there and used his experiences as a basis for The Wound Dresser. The Bureau of Indian Affairs moved into the building after the war ended. Whitman used to work as a clerk for the bureau until 1867, when he was fired after a manuscript of Leaves of Grass was found in his desk.
It was spared from demolition by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958, and given to the Smithsonian, which renovated the structure and opened the National Museum of American Art (later renamed the Smithsonian American Art Museum) and National Portrait Gallery there in 1968.
It is the eponym for the Gallery Place Washington Metro station, located across the intersection of F and 7th Streets, Northwest.
Read more about this topic: National Portrait Gallery (United States)
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