Tag Archive | historic DC
November 13, 2022  

Then & Now: Smithsonian Institution Castle

This post is a continuation of a series of “Then & Now” images from Lewis Reed’s Photo Collection alongside photographs of how they appear today. Lewis Reed worked hard to preserve a visual history of Montgomery County, Maryland and surrounding area long before automobiles were even around. As early as 1905, he toured on his motorcycle across the states of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. and took photographs of many historic locations. Taken approximately 115 years apart, you can see how the Smithsonian Institution Castle looks both the same and completely different from over a century ago.

Smithsonian Institution Castle (THEN): The Smithsonian Institution Building, popularly known as the “Castle,” was designed by architect James Renwick, Jr. Initially, the Castle was intended to be built in white marble and then in yellow sandstone. The architect and the building committee finally agreed on using Seneca red sandstone from the Seneca Quarry, located in Montgomery County, Maryland. When it was completed in 1855, it sat on an isolated piece of land cut off from downtown Washington, DC, by a canal. In the ensuing decades, the Castle became the anchor for the National Mall, as additional museums and government buildings were constructed around it.

Smithsonian Castle 1907

Smithsonian Institution Castle. Photo taken by Lewis Reed in 1907

Smithsonian Institution Castle (NOW): The same view over a century later. The Smithsonian Institution Castle, located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. behind the National Museum of African Art and the Sackler Gallery, houses the Smithsonian Institution’s administrative offices and information center.

Smithsonian Institution Castle

Smithsonian Institution Castle today

March 21, 2019  

Then & Now: Old Post Office and Clock Tower Washington, DC

Old Post Office and Clock Tower (THEN): Seen in the black & white photograph taken by Lewis Reed in 1910, is the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C. The Old Post Office, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Post Office and Clock Tower and located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., was begun in 1892, completed in 1899. It is the second-tallest structure in the nation’s capital, after the Washington Monument. Adjoining the building to the right is the E. H. Snyder Tailors Shop and Washington Utilities Company.

U.S. Post Office 1910

Old Post Office, 1910. Photo by Lewis Reed

Trump International Hotel and Clock Tower (NOW): Though DC residents might call it the Old Post Office out of habit, it now houses the Trump International Hotel. Even though it has been renovated into a luxury hotel, the Old Post Office Pavilion Clock Tower remains open to the public and run by the National Park Service.  

Old Post Office and Clock Tower

Trump International Hotel and Clock Tower in Washington, DC today

Source: Wikipedia

October 19, 2018  

Then & Now: Library of Congress

You might not realize how much Washington DC has changed until you look back and see what it looked like in the past. In this “Then & Now” feature, I have combined one of Lewis Reed’s original photograph’s for “then” and matched it with a corresponding contemporary shot for “now”.

Library of Congress (THEN): The Library of Congress was relocated to Washington, DC, in 1800, having previously been housed in New York and Philadelphia, which had each served as temporary capitals of the early United States of America. It is the research library serving the U.S. Congress as well as the national library of the United States, and it holds over 23 million volumes in its collection, making it the world’s largest library. The structure as it stands today was erected between 1888 and 1894, following the 1851 fire that destroyed 35,000 of the Library’s books (two-thirds of its holdings at that time), including much of Thomas Jefferson’s donated collection.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress. Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1910

Library of Congress (NOW): The same view 108 years later. Now, the Library of Congress is one of the largest and best-equipped libraries in the world. It houses approximately 90 million items on 540 miles of shelves.  The Library of Congress is physically housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill and a conservation center in rural Virginia. The Library’s Capitol Hill buildings are all connected by underground passageways, so that a library user need pass through security only once in a single visit.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress today

Source: Wikipedia