Carnegie Institution for Science

The Carnegie Institution for Science is an imposing Beaux-Arts building on 16th Street, but not as imposing as it might have been, since Andrew Carnegie wanted a building that was more about the work being done inside than the impressiveness of the building itself.  The architects were John Carrére and Thomas Hastings, who also built the Cannon House Office Building and the Russell Senate Office Building and the Cosmos Club in D.C., and the New York Public Library.  The building was completed in 1907, with an exterior of Indiana limestone.  The doors are bronze, and flanked by Ionic columns on the portico.