Entrain I' Ui l/ir 19-f() SiiiilhsoiiKui (i t/lnuiiu/ ix/iihit in the 

 foyer, looking south. Each alcove was devoted to a general 

 area of actix'ity, such as public (ilious, re\earch, or art. 



wh.it was for thirty years the only pubHc telephone in 

 the building has disappeared from under the stairs. 

 Tucked against the wall at the foot of the stairs is a 

 much-photographed floral display, emphasizing or- 

 ( hids f rom the Museum's living orchid collection. This 

 garden, begun in 1980, has brightened up the lobby. 

 The flowers are changed once a week. 



On the east wall, where the fireplace used to stand, 

 is a large case used to summarize the work of selected 

 staff members. This changing exhibit, a nice touch, was 

 instituted by the Smithsonian Women's Committee. On 

 the east side of the lobby is a women's restroom, and 

 the information desk is on the west, just at the entrance 

 to the Evans Gallery. 



Public Amenities 



Public amenities were few when the Museum opened. 

 Inhere were public restrooms in the lobby, each with a 

 large expanse of marbled space. This was good enough 

 planning in 1910, but for the child whose parents had 

 taken him to the second floor to look at a whale skeleton, 

 it was torture to have to walk so far. In 1913 water 

 faucets were replaced with what were called "sanitary 

 bubbling fountains." Iced-water fountains did not come 

 into the building until well after World War II. The 



Museum Shop did not open in the foyer until the early 

 1960s. With the addition of the wings, rest rooms finally 

 became available on the first and second floors at the 

 north juncture with both wings. 



In 1976 the Museum made some major Bicentennial 

 gifts to the public. In the north-entrance lobby, which 

 had previously contained a couple of hard wooden 

 benches and an umbrella stand, "a spacious lounge area 

 with comfortable sofas and soft rugs opened for foot- 

 weary visitors.'"" The sofas and rugs move out from 

 time to time when an Evans Gallery show spills over 

 into the lobby, but when they are there they may be 

 the most appreciated objects in the building. 



The West Court building, completed in 1976, filled 

 up the entire courtyard. It gave some ground-floor 

 of fices in the main building a view of solid wall, but its 

 three floors added 48,328 square feet of space and some 

 long-overdue creature comforts. Sixty-six years after 

 the Museum opened, it finally became possible for staff 

 and visitors to sit down to a meal. There are two places 

 to eat on the ground floor, which is entered by steps 

 down from the ground floor of the main building. The 

 employees' cafetei ia, entered f rom the west range, serves 

 about 700 staff members a day. That figure is slowly 

 rising, a good sign for the outside concession that han- 

 dles the food service; the kitchen also does the catering 

 for various affairs within the building, including, in 

 1981, the Inaugural Ball. The Associates Court, whose 

 entrance is near the auditorium, is reserved for mem- 

 bers of the Smithsonian Associates, and serves about 

 350 lunches a day in cool weather. In summer, breakfast 

 too is served and the Museum is open longer, so the 

 figure nearly doubles. Some meeting- and classrooms 

 on the first floor are continually in use both day and 

 evening. 



The West Court building's second floor, which houses 

 the Naturalist Center, lies between the ground and first 

 floors of the main building. The third story opens off 

 the rotunda near the west stairway and is level with the 

 main building's first floor, so that one is not aware of 

 leaving one building and entering another. It is a meas- 

 ure of the traffic that the Mexican floor tiles installed 

 in 1976 had worn down to the cement in spots before 

 being replaced in 1984. The third floor contains several 

 attractions — another set of rest rooms; another lounge 

 area; the Museum Shop, selling books on natural his- 

 tory, jewelry, postcards, toys, mineral specimens, and 

 a whole host of things and a public cafeteria with plastic 

 seats attached to tables in the "fast-food" architectural 

 style of late-twentieth-century America. The food and 

 the setting are not nearly as sumptuous as in the As- 

 sociates Court below, but after a couple of hours of 

 touring exhibits, this is an oasis. 



Between the cafeteria and the Museum Shop is one 

 other attraction that cannot be overlooked: a huge In- 

 dian tiger, presented to the Museum in 1969." The 

 tiger, which formerly had been displayed in the foyer 



184 



The Museum 



