National Building Museum. December 2020.
National Building Museum Interior. July 2018
The Pension Building
Exiting the metro at Judiciary Square one is confronted with this huge brick structure which looks industrial save a lovely terracotta ribbon that encircles it. This was the massive "Pension Building" that was responsible for paying out Civil War pensions to veterans and their families in the years following the war. Its size attests to what a massive task it must have been initially.
From 1887- 1926, the Pension Bureau distributed $8,300,000 in benefits to 2,763,063 veterans (and their survivors) of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War.
Reading about the building, I found it was designed by Montgomery C. Meigs, who also worked on the Capitol Dome. He considered this brick masterpiece to be his greatest achievement while others called it "his big red barn" (honestly, I see both points of view). The place barely escaped demolition and was saved to become a National Building Museum. Overall, the space and museum are underused and in a city of free museums I balk at the paid exhibitions. Although I am happy the space was saved, its continued form of existence seems to keep it on life-support only. That gloriously HUGE interior is always being chopped up and used for something au courant rather than left empty. Why not just put a restaurant and cafe with open seating? Post-pandemic, al fresco dining is all the rage.
All that aside, the Building Museum was one of my great discoveries while at Georgetown. I remember how my breath was taken away entering into that cavernous interior (specifically designed by Meigs to let in light for all those pension fund bureaucrats) for the very first time. In the pre-internet age, one could still be surprised by places. Yes, it was very industrial (and italianate!!) and, yes, those massive columns were poorly painted "faux marble", but the scale of the place silenced my young self into a sense of awe. Few interiors in DC are so massive and impactful - the National Cathedral or the atrium behind the National Portrait Gallery perhaps? I have heard that of past Inaugural Balls, the ones in the Pension Building were THE balls to attend.
One of the best parts of freshman year was exploring Washington. Then one summer, I luckily took an elective "the Art and Architecture of Washington, DC" which increased my knowledge substantially about architectural styles of the 19th century AND some of the buildings in the District. Upon reflection, a course I took on a lark with my friend Dean Olawski because we thought it might be fun and easy, it ended up becoming a reservoir of knowledge that I consistently referred back to in my travels and continue to do so. (I rarely am thrown back to Dr. Pierre Maubrey's Intensive Introduction to French except when visiting France).
It remained high on my list of "surprising places to visit in DC" when friends visited over the years. No matter how poorly used, that "wow factor" is still there every time I enter.