Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:1661 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, District of Columbia
Tel:
(202) 633-2850
Come see a showcase for American creativity in crafts and decorative arts, housed in a historic mid-1800s building of the French Second Empire style.
Located on the same block as the White House, the Renwick Gallery was the original home of the Corcoran Gallery and was saved from demolition by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1963, when she recommended it be renovated as part of the Lafayette Square restoration. Today, the museum's collection is mostly contemporary with American crafts and decorative arts, as well as contemporary works from the museum's permanent collection, such as Larry Fuente's Game Fish, Albert Paley's Portal Gates, and Wendell Castle's Ghost Clock, which are all popular exhibits. Visitors of all ages will enjoy one-of-a-kind pieces created from clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood, as well as the historic Grand Salon which boasts custom-made draperies, a state-of-the-art lighting system, and gilded freeze elements which help to re-create the elegant setting of a 19th collector's picture gallery.
Walk-in tours are offered daily Monday through Friday at noon and Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm. And if you're looking to learn more, the Renwick Gallery offers a comprehensive schedule of crafts demonstrations, lectures, and musical performances.
Visit the museum shop near the entrance for books on crafts, design, and decorative arts, as well as craft items that children will love. The main branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum is located at 8th and F sts. NW, in the Penn Quarter neighborhood. The Renwick Gallery is accessible by Metrorail at Farragut North (Red line) and Farragut West (Blue and Orange lines). Limited on-street and public garage parking is available in the neighborhood.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery collects, exhibits, studies, and preserves American crafts and decorative arts from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries.