The National Portrait Gallery
is a historic art museum located at 8th and F Streets NW, Founded in 1962 and opened to the public in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous Americans. The museum is housed in the historic Old Patent Office Building.
The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (with which it shares the building) are the eponyms for the Gallery Place Washington Metro station, located across the intersection of F and 7th Streets NW.
The building was used as a hospital during the American Civil War, and both Clara Barton and Walt Whitman worked as nurses there. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the General Land Office, and the Bureau of Pensions jointly occupied the building with the Patent Office through the Civil War and into the post-war period.
The Museum is now open Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free Timed entry passes are required, please visit, Smithsonian Museum Tickets
The Museums address is 1400 Constitution Ave NW. Cross streets are 14th Street, 15th Street and Madison Drive.
It is about a half a mile walk from both the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian Metro Stations. Both of those Metro Stations are on the Orange, Silver and Blue Metro lines.