The Smithsonian Institution - Washington, DC - Literary Sites on Waymarking.com

Good Reads (visit link) informs us about the book:

"The Smithsonian Institution
by Gore Vidal
3.25 · Rating Details · 506 Ratings · 45 Reviews
It's 1939, and a teenage math genius is mysteriously summoned to the Smithsonian Institution, where a crash program to develop the atomic bomb is being conducted in the basement. The boy turns out to hold the key to both the secrets of nuclear fission and breakthroughs in the time continuum. As he brainstorms with Robert Oppenheimer, he catches a glimpse of the coming war and becomes determined to ward off the cataclysm. In a race against time-and surrounded by figures from American history past and present, including Albert Einstein, Grover Cleveland, and Abraham Lincoln-he battles to save not just himself, but humanity. Gore Vidal has written some of the finest and most inventive novels in modern times. Readers of such bestsellers as Burr, Lincoln, Duluth, and 1876 will revel in this, his latest foray into the American scene. A brilliant and vividly imaginative tale about some of the key events of the twentieth century, The Smithsonian Institution is a dramatic masterwork of comedy and allusion.

Paperback, 272 pages
Published September 16th 1999 by Mariner Books (first published January 1st 1998)
Original TitleThe Smithsonian Institution
ISBN 0156006480 (ISBN13: 9780156006484)
Edition LanguageEnglish"

Wikipedia (visit link) informs us about the building:

"The Smithsonian Institution Building, 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. The building is constructed of Seneca red sandstone in the faux Norman style (a 12th-century combination of late Romanesque and early Gothic motifs; built in the Gothic and Romanesque revival styles) and is nicknamed The Castle. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965...

James Renwick designed the Castle as the focal point of a picturesque landscape on the Mall, using elements from Georg Moller's Denkmäler der deutschen Baukunst. Renwick originally intended to detail the building with entirely American sculptural flora in the manner of Benjamin Henry Latrobe's work at the United States Capitol, but the final work used conventional pattern-book designs.

The building is completed in the Gothic Revival style with Romanesque motifs. This style was chosen to evoke the Collegiate Gothic in England and the idea of knowledge and wisdom. The façade is built with red sandstone from the Seneca quarry in Seneca, Maryland in contrast to the granite, marble and yellow sandstone from the other major buildings in Washington, D.C."

Short Description: Gore Vidal's novel "The Smithsonian Institution" takes place in the basement of the Smithsonian Castle. Book Title: The Smithsonian Institution First Year Published: 1998 Author's Name: Gore Vidal Name of Waymarked Item: The Smithsonian Institution Location of Item: Washington, DC More Information: See above Admission Price?: 0.00 (listed in local currency) Link to more information about the book or waymarked item.: [Web Link]

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