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A European Starling (Sturnus vulg) sitting on the fence surrounding The Ellipse in Washington, DC.
The magnolias which were in bloom days earlier soon fell victim to a sudden frost, leaving the trees unadorned.
The Smithsonian Institution Building was designed by prominent New York architect James Renwick, Jr. and erected between 1847 and 1855 on the Mall. It was built to house the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian was established following the generous bequest of approximately $500,000 by James Smithson, an English scientist.
By the terms of the will, Smithson’s estate was to pass to his nephew following Smithson’s death in 1829. If the nephew should die without direct heirs, the will ordered, the estate was then to become the property of the United States government. The United States acquired the funds when the contested bequest was settled in the British courts in London in 1838 after the death of Smithson’s nephew. Smithson had merely stated that the funds were to be used for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge”.
As the first building created for the new institution, this structure—now known as the Castle—was designed to house many types of activities, including a large storage room on the first floor designed for the exchange of scientific publications with other institutions and museums, a suite of rooms for the family of the Institution’s Secretary, various natural history research rooms and laboratories, a reading room, a library, and a large lecture room. Two small rooms saw use as a museum of scientific instruments and an art gallery.