Still Winter in Washington DC

The Smithsonian Institution Building (aka "The Castle"), a National Historic Landmark and one of my favorite buildings in Washington DC, was designed by the prominent New York architect, James Renwick, Jr., who would later design the Renwick Gallery (originally the Corcoran Gallery of Art) in Washington, and erected on the Mall between 1847 and 1855. Initially intended to be built in white marble, then in yellow sandstone, the architect and building committee finally settled on Seneca red sandstone from the Seneca Quarry in Montgomery County, Maryland.