David Owen and architect Robert Mills developed preliminary plans for the Smithsonian Institution's new building while his brother, U.S. Congressman Robert Dale Owen, introduced and helped to secure passage of the bill that founded the Smithsonian Institution in 1846, served on the Institution's first Board of Regents, and chaired its Building Committee. Although Owen's early drawings were not the final choice for the project, they influenced the designs that other architects developed. Owen also donated his services as a consultant without compensation to the Institution's Board of Regents and helped architect James Renwick Jr., whose design was selected for the building, prepare drawings for its chemistry department.Leopold, pp. 231–33.
