The National Portrait Gallery is located in Washington DC and is administered by the Smithsonian Institution. The collection focuses mainly on images of famous individual Americans. Residing in the National Historic Land marked Old Patent Office Building, which is located just south of Chinatown in the Penn Quarter district. It is the third oldest federal building in the city and was constructed between the years of 1836 and 1867. The museum contains marble and granite porticoes modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

During the Civil War, the building was used as a hospital. President Dwight Eisenhower saved the building from demolition in 1958 and gave it to the Smithsonian. They then renovated the structure and opened the National Museum of American Art, and National Portrait Gallery in 1968.

The collection includes, the famous Lansdowne portrait of George Washington, the Hall of Presidents, and its extensive selection of portraits of remarkable Americans. Sine the gallery reopened in July of 2006, it has been focused on contemporary portraiture in its “Portraiture Now” series.

The gallery was closed in January of 2000 for extensive renovations and expansion. The renovated museum includes a new, glass-enclosed courtyard designed by Foster + Partners, the architecture firm of renown architect Norman Foster. Its director is Martin E. Sullivan.