U.S. Patent Office

The U. S. Patent Office, built 1836-1867, by Robert Mills, Ithiel Town, Thomas U. Walter and others, is now the home of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. Located at 7th and G Streets, Washington, DC, it was spared demolition in the 1950s even though the groundswell of the historic preservation movement had not yet gained the critical mass that developed after the egregious destruction of New York City's Pennsylvania Station in 1963.

Below: Photo from Temple of Invention, History of a National Landmark, by Charles J. Robertson (NY, Scala Arts, 2006) published on the occasion of the re-opening of the building after its renovation.