New Acquisitions: 2025, Part 2

David Macaulay, a renowned illustrator and writer, is most well-known for his nonfiction books that combine text and illustration to explain architecture, design, and engineering. A friend of the Museum, David created a digital illustration of the Museum’s Great Hall featuring D.C. landmarks. He donated to the permanent collection several hard-copy drawings that he used to create the digital illustration.

Donor: David Macaulay
Image: Sketch of the National Building Museum by David Macaulay, National Building Museum.

James Evans, former Chief of Transportation Facilities with the D.C. Department of Public Works, donated this cast-iron ionic column capital to the Museum. It was installed on the platform of D.C.’s Union Station in 1907 and was removed during part of the station’s renovation in the early 2000s. The piece was given to the Department of Public Works by Amtrak in appreciation for the financial support the District provided for Union Station’s platform improvements.

Donor: James Evans
Image: Ionic Column Capital (2025.14.1), National Building Museum.

Following a visit to the Museum in May 2025, Rose Jetter noted that the Museum’s souvenir building collection was missing representation from Montana. To fill this gap, she donated this piece to the permanent collection.

Donor: Rose Jetter
Image: Souvenir Building (2025.15.1), National Building Museum.

Hank Griffith gave the Museum four small samples of mica, which were typically used in flooring and laminate prior to the creation of plastic synthetics. These samples of mineral mica were purchased by the Griffiths from the North Carolina Mining Museum.

Donor: Hank Griffith
Image: Mica Sample (2025.17.5), National Building Museum.

This brick from Elkridge, Maryland was given to the Museum by Steven Granowski, who found it as a child in the remains of a small factory chimney. It is an unpainted fire brick of a unique color.

Donor: Steven Granowski
Image: Brick (2025.18.1), National Building Museum.

Athena Tacha is a multimedia visual artist who has worked on several architecture-based sculpture projects around the country. Active since the 1970s, she is a pioneer of environmental, site-specific sculpture and has won more than fifty competitions for permanent public art commissions. Athena and her partner, Richard Spear, donated materials relevant to her D.C. projects to the Museum. These materials include drawings, proposals, and some small models of Wisconsin Place in Chevy Chase, the Strathmore Hall pedestrian bridge in Rockville, and the Morgan Boulevard Metro station. They were used to prepare for installing large-scale art in and around the built environment.

Donor: Athena Tacha & Richard Spear
Image: Drawing of Fountain Installation, National Building Museum.

Amy Parmeter inherited several items from her grandfather, Jack Kananen, who worked in construction in many cities across the country. His parents immigrated to the United States from Finland and settled in Ohio, where Jack learned the bricklaying trade before moving to Chicago and working with the Gust K. Newberg Construction Company as a construction manager and foreman. Jack moved to Los Angeles when the company began to oversee construction work there. Jack was involved in constructing several major public works in Los Angeles, including the Department of Water & Power, Hall of Administration, and the Long Beach Arena. From Jack’s time in California, Amy donated a photograph album of approximately one hundred 8×10 photos detailing several construction projects.

Donor: Amy Parmeter
Image: Photograph Album, National Building Museum.

Elizabeth Lawson, a member of the Souvenir Building Society, donated a unique collection of eleven souvenir buildings made by members of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. Additionally, she donated two souvenir buildings representing the state of Montana to assist in filling out the Museum’s souvenir building collection.

Donor: Elizabeth Lawson
Image: Souvenir Building, National Building Museum.

Priscilla Griffith donated a kiln tester to the Museum’s permanent collection. Typically, a kiln tester is created when a specific type of clay is made to particular dimensions and marked. It is then glazed and fired to test the rate of change between the wet clay and fired ceramic dimensions. This kiln tester is an excellent parallel to the Museum’s Northwestern Terra Cotta Collection, which notes such measurement differences on the drawings themselves.

Donor: Priscilla Griffith
Image: Kiln Tester, National Building Museum.

While an architecture student at Columbia University, Susan Hillberg worked at Beyer, Blender & Belle and participated in projects at Ellis Island, in Central Park, and several other notable historic buildings in New York City. During a project focused on bridges in Central Park, Susan was given two pieces of cast-iron bridge balusters that she donated to the Museum.

Donor: Susan Hillberg
Image: Section of Pine Bank Bridge, National Building Museum.

The late George Siekkinen gave three terra cotta façade pieces to the Museum prior to his death. The Museum is grateful to have taken custody of these items in 2025. One piece is from Columbus, Ohio’s Union Depot, which was demolished in the 1970s. Another is from the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel, which was removed due to potential seismic hazards and replaced with a replica. The final piece is a sample section of the stucco façade of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Donor: George Siekkinen
Image: Floret from the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel, National Building Museum.