The Baltimore and Potomac Station, located on the site of the future National Gallery of Art West Building, is razed and its tracks are removed from the Mall, in keeping with the McMillan Commission Plan.

The National Museum of Natural History, designed by architects Hornblower and Marshall, is completed and stands to the west of the Sculpture Garden site.

The National Archives building, designed by architect John Russell Pope, is completed immediately north of the Sculpture Garden site.

In a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Andrew W. Mellon proposes to give to the nation his art collection and to build a National Gallery of Art on the Mall in Washington.

The 75th Congress approves Public Resolution 14 "Providing for the Construction and Maintenance of a National Gallery of Art," as envisioned by Andrew Mellon. Construction of the National Gallery of Art's original (West) Building, designed by John Russell Pope, begins. (2 of 4)