The Castle, as it is best known, is the oldest building of the Smithsonian Institution and one of America's finest Gothic Revival structures (by the architect of New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, James Renwick, 1849). Its reddish color and irregular shape made up of turrets, spires, parapets and towersmake it immediately recognizable, a welcome anachronism in an orderly city. It houses the Smithsonian Visitors Information Center (open 7 days a week, 9am-5:30pm) and the Crypy Room housing the tomb of the institution's benefactor, James Smithson.
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