Washington gem is open again

ART lovers visiting the capital this summer should venture off the National Mall, because a new showcase for American art awaits in the city’s revitalized Chinatown.

The Smithsonian’s Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture was to reopen Saturday after a six-year, $283-million renovation.

The center, the onetime home of the U.S. Patent Office, now houses the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum under one roof. The mid-19th century Greek Revival building, the third public building constructed in Washington, D.C. (after the Capitol and the White House), is considered one of city’s architectural gems.

Shuttered in 2000, it underwent an extensive redesign that opened up two city-block-long skylights in the roof and transformed office space into 25% more gallery space. The result is an open, contemporary design mixed with 19th century tile work, arches and porticoes.

The Reynolds Center is home to a collection of more than 19,000 works, from Early American to Modern, including Edward Hopper landscapes; a room-sized, glowing map of the United States by video artist Nam June Paik; a portrait of the Miami Heat’s Shaquille O’Neal; and Gilbert Stuart’s famous 1796 rendering of George Washington. One of the center’s more unusual additions offers a behind-the-scenes look at conservators as they restore paintings, photographs and sculptures. The Lunder Conservation Center allows visitors to view their work through floor-to-ceiling glass walls and live-camera close-ups. Interactive kiosks give museum pieces a before-and-after treatment, and a 40-foot media wall streams video interviews with conservators from across the country.

The center is in the middle of Washington’s resurgent Penn Quarter/Chinatown neighborhood. Bars, restaurants and shops have opened to take advantage of crowds attending events at the nearby Verizon Center, and residential units are opening on nearly every block. Nearby are other tourist attractions, including the International Spy Museum, Ford’s Theatre and the National Building Museum.

Artists and performers are also increasingly setting up shop in the area. The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. N.W., long a neighborhood anchor, plans a new performing arts center in October 2007 to expand into dance, music and film. The irreverent Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company opened in its new home at 641 D St. N.W. last year. And later this month the neighborhood will host the first Capital Fringe Festival, a performing arts event that will provide venues for more than 400 performances in 11 days.

The Reynolds Center hopes to build on this momentum; its galleries will be open until 7 p.m. daily to draw on the district’s steady foot traffic.

“The neighborhood is a huge asset to the museum,” said Laura Baptiste, public affairs officer for the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “We want people to stop by after work or after dinner.”

The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, at 8th and F streets Northwest, is open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (except Christmas). Admission is free. Metro stop: Gallery Place-Chinatown. For information: www.reynoldscenter.org.