National Building Museum

For President's Day we took a tour of the National Building Museum downtown.  It's an impressive building, with large columns and a fountain in the middle.  It's always interesting to hear the history.  Did you know the building is in large measure a monument to the civil war?  We learned a lot about the architecture as well.  The outside gives the effect of how wide the building is, whereas when you go in, the columns and open space emphasize the height.  I wouldn't have picked up how each the banisters are carved differently, or ever noticed how they used black paint to compensate for how uneven the building is.  Apparently terra cotta is a very durable building material.  The two sets of railings are simply to meet current building codes.  It was a fun diversion!