https://www.mallhistory.org/files/original/81b6c8692b310e8801e2afb485610ac2.jpg 904e5a8d2426d8e051e277e9bdf78737 People An individual, biographical data, birth and death, etc. Birth Date 11/01/1818 Birthplace New York City Death Date 06/23/1895 Occupation Architect First Name for nav purposes James Last Name for nav purposes Renwick Biographical Text James Renwick, Jr was born in New York to well-connected and well-educated parents. His father was a professor at Columbia College (today Columbia University) where James, Jr started at the age of 12. Renwick earned both a Bachelors and Masters degree from Columbia in engineering. After graduating, he was hired as a structural engineer for the Erie Railroad. In 1843, Renwick won a competition to design a new Grace Church, a wealthy Episcopal parish in New York City. Following its completion, Renwick received commissions to design and build other structures, including many churches, in New York City. Based on these successes, he was invited to enter the design competition held in 1846 to select an architect for the newly-created Smithsonian Institution. Renwick won the competition and designed the original building with features reminiscent of a Gothic European castle. Renwick continued to have a successful career, designing buildings in a variety of architectural styles. In addition to the Smithsonian Castle, Renwick is well known for designing Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource James Renwick Jr. Description An account of the resource James Renwick Jr. won the 1846 competition to design the first <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/52">Smithsonian Institution building</a>. His design drew heavily from architectural styles of 12th-century Europe that gave the building a castle-like appearance. Although Renwick took pains to design the building to be fireproof, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/160">a fire destroyed part of the structure in 1865</a>. In 1874, he completed the first Corcoran Gallery located on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. That building now bears his name and is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/documents/renwickengraving.htm">View original image</a>. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1830-1859 1860-1889 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource James Renwick Jr. museums