The area bounded by Seventh Street, Constitution Avenue, Fourth Street, and North Mall Drive, Northwest, in the District of Columbia, is appropriated to the Smithsonian Institution as a site for a National Gallery of Art. The Smithsonian Institution is authorized to permit the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust (hereinafter referred to as the donor) to construct on said site for the Smithsonian Institution a building to be designated the National Gallery of Art, and to remove any existing structure and landscape the grounds within said area. The adjoining area bounded by Fourth Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, Third Street, and North Mall Drive, Northwest, in the District of Columbia, is reserved as a site for future additions to the National Gallery of Art. The project shall be in accordance with plans and specifications approved by the Commission of Fine Arts.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Pub. L. 106–385, Oct. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 1463, provided that:
"SECTION 1. RENAMING OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART.
"(a)
"(b)
"SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.
"Section 1 shall take effect on the day after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 27, 2000]."
Pub. L. 96–441, §§1, 3, 4, Oct. 13, 1980, 94 Stat. 1884, provided: "That the bureau of the Smithsonian Institution designated as the National Collection of Fine Arts by section 6(c) of the joint resolution entitled 'Joint Resolution providing for the construction and maintenance of a National Gallery of Art', approved March 24, 1937 (20 U.S.C. 71 note), shall be known as the 'National Museum of American Art'.
Act Mar. 24, 1937, ch. 50, 50 Stat. 51, sections 1 to 5 of which are incorporated as sections 71, 72 to 74, and 75 of this title, provided in section 6(c) that: "The existing bureau of the Smithsonian Institution now designated as a national gallery of art shall hereafter be known as the National Collection of Fine Arts."
General Post Office Building; Transfer to Smithsonian Institution for Use as Art Galleries; Relocation of United States International Trade Commission
Pub. L. 98–523, Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2433, provided: "That at such time as it is declared to be excess property pursuant to section 2(d) of this Act, the Administrator of General Services (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the 'Administrator') is authorized to transfer to the Smithsonian Institution, in accordance with section 202 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 483) [now 40 U.S.C. 521–527, 529], without reimbursement, and for use by the Smithsonian Institution for certain art galleries and related functions, the General Post Office Building with any attached underground structures and the site of such building, located between Seventh and Eighth Streets Northwest and E and F Streets Northwest, in the District of Columbia.
"(b) The Administrator and the Chairman shall each report separately in writing to the Committees on Environment and Public Works, Finance, Rules and Administration, and Governmental Affairs [now Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs] of the Senate and to the Committees on Public Works and Transportation, Ways and Means, House Administration, and Government Operations of the House of Representatives not later than sixty days after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 19, 1984] and every thirty days thereafter on the status of the relocation required by this section.
"(c) During the period in which the Commission and the United States Postal Service continue to occupy the General Post Office Building referred to in the first section of this Act, the Administrator shall maintain such building in order to prevent its deterioration and to assure that conditions therein are safe and the building is presentable and suitable to the normal operations of the Commission and such Service.
"(d) Upon accomplishment of the relocation required by subsection (a) of this section, the Administrator shall declare the property referred to in the first section of this Act to be excess property as defined in section 3 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 472) [now 40 U.S.C. 102].