Art to bring art back to the second floor of the Flagg building. Interior Flagg also designed the interior of the building. Upon entering the building's front doors on 17th Street, you first enter the atrium. The vast space, separated into three connected sections, consists of forty limestone columns and twin skylights (to light the intended display of sculptures). The Beaux-Arts-inspired room rises two interior stories and has housed exhibit space and other uses. Directly across the atrium from the front entrance stands the grand staircase, leading to the second floor. Low rise stairs, wide, are watched over by six statues on pedestals atop marble platforms, and lead to a landing halfway to the second floor. Hold onto the brass-topped railing for balance. From the grand staircase, one can access the rotunda and the second story level of the atrium, including a bridge that heads across the atrium back towards the direction of the front door. Gallery space exists throughout. Back on the first floor, three galleries lead from the atrium (originally there were seven). The second floor originally had eight galleries. The rotunda came later, designed by Charles Platt in 1925. Forty eight feet wide, the room's domed ceiling culminates in an oculus skylight. Reminiscent of the Pantheon, the space offers an exquisite entry to the building's Clark Wing. An observer would access a marble-floored, square, dark staircase hall with wood panels to reach the Clark Wing galleries. At the northern end of the building, the Hemicycle's unusual shape fills the angle created by New York Avenue and 17th Street. The space is the auditorium, being with a 300-person capacity. The Salon Doré appears on the building's opposite side. Also referred to as the "French Room," it displays intricate French decorations; it was designed in the early 1700s by Jean‐François‐Thérèse Chalgrin and was moved from Paris to the United States sometime before 1904. In 2015, preservationists added the interior portions of the Corcoran Gallery to the National Register of Historic Places (the exterior had been listed in 1971). The interior nomination includes the grand staircase, atrium, rotunda, gallery, and other notable spaces. See also Jacob Guptil Fletcher National Historic Landmark Nomination National Register of Historic Places Nomination (Interior) References External links Corcoran Gallery, GWU and National Gallery close deal to transform Corcoran Corcoran Gallery of Art Corcoran Gallery of Art on Google Street View Archive of Exhibitions at the