Waddy B. Wood drafted the main building as a Masonic Temple and headquarters of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. The infobox lists Wood, Donn & Deming and the year 1903, while the body says the main building was completed in 1908. It calls the style Renaissance Revival, and the infobox says Classical Revival.
The upper floors were for Masonic rites and the middle floors for offices, and the first-floor auditorium was meant to be rented out. It showed silent films from 1916 and served as a movie theater from 1941 to 1983. The museum bought it in 1983. The original building is 78,810 square feet (7,322 m²).
The Kasser Wing opened in 1997. Sandra Vicchio & Associates designed a renovation from 2021 to 2023, and the museum reopened on October 21, 2023. The article gives its cost as $66 million, $67.5 million, $68 million and $70 million.
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