Through 2026
About House & Home
The National Building Museum presents House & Home, a kaleidoscopic array of photographs, objects, models, and films that take us on a tour of houses both familiar and surprising, through past and present, challenging our ideas about what it means to be at home in America. Remarkable transformations in technology, laws, and consumer culture have brought about enormous change in American domestic life. The breathtaking variety of stories about the American home surprise, teach, and entertain.
The exhibition features “please-touch” walls made out of different materials used in residential construction over time, from adobe bricks to structural insulated panel (SIP) systems. Intricate scale models present iconic residential architecture including Fallingwater and Chicago’s Hancock Center. Three sets of specially commissioned films featuring contemporary and historical images round out the experience.
House & Home’s galleries tell a full range of stories about the history of the American home. Designed by the award-winning New York-based firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the exhibition is an immersive experience in which the galleries come alive with objects, photographs, and sound.
Thank you to our sponsors
Support for House & Home is provided by The Home Depot Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Hanley Wood, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Andersen Corporate Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MASCO Corporation Foundation, and AARP, among others.