Arts and Industries Building

This colorful Victorian exhibition hall beside the Smithsonian Castle was the institution's second building, opened in 1881 to display objects from the nation's centennial exposition. Built with a cross-shaped plan under soaring rotunda roofs, its polychrome brickwork and iron-and-glass construction made it an early showcase of industrial-age architecture. After long closure for restoration, it reopens periodically for special exhibitions, its airy naves evoking grand world's-fair pavilions.