Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

1966-1974, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

On May 17, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson recommended that Congress accept the Joseph H. Hirshhorn collection of sculpture and painting and establish a national museum to hold the collection. On November 7, 1966, legislation was passed to accept the Hirshhorn art collection, to build a museum named after the benefactor and to establish the museum under the administration of the Smithsonian Institution. A juried competition held the following year awarded the design to Gordon Bunshaft of the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

In 1968, Congress appropriated funds for the building's construction and the Bunshaft design was approved by Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, Joseph Hirshhorn and the Commission of Fine Arts. The site allocated for the new museum was previously occupied by th Army Medical Museum (also known as the Medical Museum of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) designed by Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze which had been designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. In 1969, the Army Medical Museum was razed and its contents were relocated to other facilities. Construction of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden began on March 25, 1970. The modern design of the museum was in contrast to existing Mall museums of neoclassical design. The cylindrical structure rested on four piers which opened on the interior to a courtyard and fountain. Entrance could be obtained from the Mall by crossing the courtyard underneath the hollow cylinder and through a glass structure on the south side of the building. The original choice of a pink travertine marble cladding was not permitted due to federal law regulating imported materials used in the construction of federal buildings.

The material used for the Hirshhorn exterior was an exposed concrete which was sandblasted to give the appearance of a more uniform surface. The original design of the sculpture garden was to be a trans-Mall garden extending the entire width of the Mall. In 1971 the size of the garden was reduce after complaints by Congress and the National Capital Planning Commission. On October 4, 1974, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opened to the public. The garden was reconfigured between 1978 and 1981 to permit the access of persons with disabilities and the redesign of the setting of the sculpture. The final built design consisted of four stories and a basement. The top floor housed administrative offices. The inside portion of the gallery floors contained sculpture and opened into the central courtyard. Painting galleries occupied the outside portion of the floor. The third floor of the Hirshhorn had a balcony which overlooked the Mall and sculpture garden. As a design feature, the balcony broke up the exterior monotony of the concrete cylindrical structure.

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