Resuscitated: The Smithsonian's grand old man on the mall

November 5, 7:36 AMDC Cultural Events ExaminerPatricia Leslie

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Scaffolding is up at Arts and Industries/by Patricia Leslie 

Thanks to the stimulus bill (AKA "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act"), legislators who voted for it, and President Barack Obama's leadership, the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building is saved!

Those nasty rumors circulating on the Mall that the building is dead, to be demolished for yet another monument to (to...who is left?)are no more!  Seen this week:  Men at work!  Scaffolding!  The building comes alive with an injection of about $25 million for repair.

The sad edifice closed in 2004 suffering from a "neglect, a deteriorating roof, and other infrastructure problems," according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation which named the statue to its "11 Most Endangered Places" in 2006.

Men at work at Arts and Industries/by Patricia Leslie

The building first opened in 1881 and was "irrevocably established" as "the national museum of the United States" says the Smithsonian's Web site.  In its first full year, guards counted 167,455 visitors.

Over the years it housed varied exhibits of natural and American history artifacts and aircraft before those collections were moved to their own museums.

The Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building this week/by Patricia Leslie

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