Adopt an Artifact: Northwestern Terra Cotta Collection
The National Building Museum’s Northwestern Terra Cotta collection is one of the largest and most sophisticated of its kind in the United States, comprised of more than 64,000 architectural drawings…
A Tail Through Time: Dogs in the Museum’s Collection
Each year, the unique bond between human and dog is celebrated by observing National Dog Day on August 26. Though the official holiday was founded in 2004 by animal behaviorist…
Behind the Photographs: The Wurts Brothers Collection
The National Building Museum’s collections are estimated at more than half a million items. The largest material type (by quantity, not by size!) are photographic materials: prints, negatives, transparencies, slides,…
Adopt an Artifact: Architectural Toy Collection
George Wetzel began collecting building toys in the early 1980s after noticing that the toys he was buying for his children were strikingly different in both material and style from…
New Acquisitions: 2024, Part 1
As part of its mission to inspire curiosity about the world we design and build, the National Building Museum actively collects objects, photographs, and paper materials that document the building…
New Acquisitions: 2023
As part of its mission to inspire curiosity about the world we design and build, the National Building Museum actively collects objects, photographs, and paper materials that document the building…
The Harrison Apartments and Adaptive Reuse in DC
Washington, DC’s architectural story is one of evolution and adaptation, and few buildings illustrate that better than the Harrison Apartments. Tucked into the Judiciary Square neighborhood, this landmark structure has…
Four Hundred Years of Children’s Books About the Built Environment
For centuries, children’s books have shaped how young readers experience the world, including the buildings, cities, and landscapes they move through every day. Building Stories invites visitors to rediscover the…
Momentum in Motion: Exploring Parkour and the Built Environment
As the National Building Museum launches Momentum Park(our), a new summer installation exploring the dynamic interaction between movement and buildings, we spoke with Mark Toorock to learn more about the…