James Renwick Jr. won the 1846 competition to design the first
Smithsonian Institution building. His design drew heavily from architectural styles of 12th-century Europe that gave the building a castle-like appearance. Although Renwick took pains to design the building to be fireproof,
a fire destroyed part of the structure in 1865. In 1874, he completed the first Corcoran Gallery located on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. That building now bears his name and is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.