Renwick Gallery

art gallery, Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Also known as: Corcoran Gallery

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July 13, 2026

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The Renwick Gallery is a historic building in Washington, D.C., that serves as the crafts and decorative arts branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). Built in 1859, it was the city's first art museum and originally housed the Corcoran Gallery of Art before becoming part of the Smithsonian in 1972. The building itself was designed by architect James Renwick in the Second Empire style. The Renwick Gallery showcases a variety of American crafts and decorative arts, contributing to SAAM's mission of preserving and exhibiting the nation's largest collection of American art.123

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James Renwick
(1859), now called the Renwick Gallery, was designed in the Second Empire style Renwick favoured for hospitals, mansions, and other nonecclesiastical structures in the 1850s and ’60s. Many of the churches he designed from the 1850s on, notably Saint Bartholomew’s Church (1871–72) and All Saints’ Roman Catholic Church (1882–93),…
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(1859), now called the Renwick Gallery, was designed in the Second Empire style Renwick favoured for hospitals, mansions, and other nonecclesiastical structures in the 1850s and ’60s. Many of the churches he designed from the 1850s on, notably Saint Bartholomew’s Church (1871–72) and All Saints’ Roman Catholic Church (1882–93),…
Read More