French was a sculptor whose best-known work in Washington, DC, is the statue of President Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial. He also sculpted the statue of Victory which tops the First Division Monument in President’s Park. From 1910-1915,…

Anthony LaManna was a stone cutter who immigrated from Italy to the US through Ellis Island in 1904. He worked on the Lincoln Memorial in the late 1910s and early 1920s carving the words of the Gettysburg Address on the south interior wall. This…

From 1915 to 1935, there was a tennis court behind the Smithsonian Institution Castle, next to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in the South Yard. The court was created for the Smithsonian's tennis team, which played in intramural as well as…

The South Shed, also called the Annex, was used to prepare specimen for exhibition. Built in 1898 and demolished in 1975 to make way for the Victorian Garden, the South Shed at various times housed the Smithsonian's model and taxidermy shop, the bug…

This observatory was established in March 1890 and was one of the first to practice astrophysics. It was housed in buildings in the South Yard of the Smithsonian Institution Building's grounds. Early research conducted on the site focused on solar…

In 1911 Congress appropriated funds and established a subcommittee within the Commission of Fine Arts to write a proposal for a memorial to President Abraham Lincoln. The committee undertook a national design competition for monument proposals. Their…

In 1912 this design by Henry Bacon was selected as the winner of a national design competition for the Lincoln Memorial. His design was in the neoclassical style, inspired by the temples of Greece. The design also featured a 19 foot statue of…

In 1912 John Russell Pope submitted several entries to the design competition for the Lincoln Memorial. They were each unique. This proposal was for a Mayan Temple style monument to Lincoln which featured a large flame burning at the top of the…

In 1912 John Russell Pope submitted several entries to the design competition for the Lincoln Memorial. They were each distinct from one another. This submission was a unique pyramid design. Known as the Ziggurat Style, this style features middle…

The Executive Stables, which held the horses, carriages, and later automobiles of the President, were built, rebuilt, and relocated several times. The first stables were built in 1800 by the Jefferson administration and sat just off the White House…