Welcome to the National Building Museum’s Permanent Collection

This database was made possible through the generous support of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

The National Building Museum’s permanent collection illuminates the building process and documents changing architectural styles and construction techniques. Our goal is to eventually digitize and make available here the approximately 300,000 photographic images and negatives, 130,000 architectural prints and drawings, 100 linear feet of documents, and over 20,000 objects in our permanent collection. The cataloging of our permanent collection is an ongoing process and we are always learning and adding new information. Some artifact descriptions will be more detailed than others at the moment, because our goal is to prioritize accessibility even as our work is ongoing. Please stop by often as we continue to update and add records.

The following collections are currently available on this site: