Towers

Photograph, 1884 Smithsonian Institution negative #91-2158

Interior view of the South Tower of the Smithsonian Institution Building. The fifth floor contained the office of Robert Ridgway. The calendar on the wall dated the photograph to August 1884.

Photograph, 1901 Smithsonian Institution negative #13383

Interior view of the Smithsonian Institution Building. The first floor of the South Tower housed the Children's Room, which originally opened in 1901. The kaleidoscope contained live fish and was designed by Samuel Pierpoint Langley. Langley served as the third Smithsonian Secretary from 1887 to 1906. He abandoned efforts to create a national gallery of art in the Upper Main Hall of the Smithsonian Institution Building.

Photograph, 1905 Smithsonian Institution negative #16957

Photograph of the interior of the Castle within the North Tower. The founder of the Smithsonian Institution died in Genoa, Italy, on June 26, 1829, and was temporarily interred there. Hornblower & Marshall designed the final crypt of James Smithson within the Smithsonian Institution Building in 1905. Stained glass, dark Tennessee marble and a plaster drop ceiling created the somber atmosphere that the architects sought. The room was temporarily sealed off with a heavy iron gate from the original Italian grave site.

Photograph, 1992, Richard W. Strauss Smithsonian Institution negative #92-16583

Color photograph of the interior of the Smithsonian Institution Building. The Regents' Room was redecorated in 1987 with a Gothic interior. The Gothic Revival chandelier of 1855 was attributed to Archer & Warner Co. of Philadelphia. The portrait was of Congressman William Hough, whose congressional bill established the Smithsonian Institution. He also served as Interim Secretary in September 1846 until Joseph Henry was appointed Smithsonian Secretary.

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