7th Street Shuffle October 24, 2007

The east facade of the museum, looking north along Seventh Street from the corner at F Street.

Hey! What are those people doing? They're walking along Seventh Street in front of the museum. Can they do that?

If you've been in our neighborhood in the last six years or so, you've noticed the big, gray, plywood construction fences that surrounded the museum. Most of the fencing came down when we reopened last year, but two large sections remained to enclose equipment storage, staging areas, office trailers, and the (at first two, now one) cranes for our courtyard construction project. One section of fence completely blocked the sidewalk along Seventh and F Streets, making us look a little too "we're closed" for my liking.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I went for a walk and saw people happily ambling down the Seventh Street sidewalk. People eating lunch on the sunny east stairs. New grass! We've been so focused on the courtyard opening in a few weeks that we've not really taken time to appreciate how the building is changing on the outside.

Construction fences surrounded the entire building for years. The photo on the left was taken in November 2005. The photo on the right was taken recently. A construction fence at the end of the plaza still blocks the view down F Street.

I'm looking forward to the day when the final bit of fencing comes down on the southwest corner of our block at Ninth and F. When that is removed (maybe by January 1st) there will be an uninterrupted view west down F street to the Treasury building and East to Union Station. Washingtonians haven't been treated to that sight for many years.

• Smithsonian American Art Museum