Collections Highlight: Pension Building Collection

The National Building Museum collects artifacts of the built environment from around the world, guided by the belief that the world we design and build matters. The Museum’s expansive collections include photographs, architectural drawings and models, souvenir buildings and dollhouses, as well as material samples, such as bricks and Formica. Just as importantly, the built world the Museum interprets includes the one it inhabits: the former Pension Building itself.

This historic structure houses the Museum’s permanent collections, exhibition galleries, educational classrooms, and award-winning Museum Shop. It’s also the workplace of dedicated Museum staff, who work daily to ensure every visitor feels welcome and inspired to explore. Interpreting the building itself is a key part of the Museum’s mission, and, as such, the collections reflect the building’s history, going back to the 1880s.

As D.C. history buffs might know, the former Pension Building was designed and constructed between 1882 and 1887 under the direction of U.S. Army Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs. Serving as both architect and engineer, Meigs played such a central role that he is the only individual whose personal belongings the Museum collects. The Museum also has materials highlighting the many craftsmen who worked to bring Meigs’ vision to life. Some of these talented tradespeople signed their names to scraps of paper and inserted them into walls and flooring during construction, which were uncovered during later renovations.

Other items in the Museum’s collections reflect the varied uses of the historic Pension Building since it opened in 1887, from office building to film set and more. In the early days, it was home to Con. Murphy’s, which advertised “the best 15 cent lunch in the city” and undoubtedly fed many a hungry Pension Bureau clerk. Later, George P. Costamos’ 1997 movie “Shadow Conspiracy” filmed a dramatic scene with firearms in the Great Hall, and the Museum collected three blank cartridges from the production.

The most obvious opportunities for collecting are the decorative and functional aspects of the building itself. One of the least visible components of the building is the 234 busts housed near the ceiling of the Center Court in individual niches. Eight plaster models of these sculptures are much more accessible on the second floor, where they are currently on view in Visible Vault: Open Collections Storage. In this display, visitors can see sculptor Gretta Bader’s work up close. The figures’ unique faces and clothing portray archetypes of those who help create the built environment, such as engineers, landscape architects, and more.

Another example of collecting from the Museum’s immediate surroundings is the fountain in the Center Court, which once housed live coral. The collection also includes samples from the Great Hall carpet, designed to replicate the original tile pattern of the Pension Bureau floor, windows, heating elements, elevator grates, and more. The possibilities are nearly endless!

To make a research request and learn more about the Pension Building Collection, click here. You can learn more about other collections held at the Museum by searching the online database here!