Madison

The Library of Congress was housed in the Capitol Building until 1897, when the new building now known as the Thomas Jefferson Building opened as a structure intended specifically to serve as the national library. Hailed as a glorious national monument with an elaborately decorated façade and interior, it was designed in an Italian Renaissance style by John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz, with construction completed under the direction of Thomas Lincoln Casey of the Army Corps of Engineers, assisted by superintendent of construction Bernard R. Green and architect Edward Pearce Casey. The second Library of Congress building opened to the public in 1939 as the Annex Building and was renamed for President John Adams in 1980. Intended as a functional and efficient bookstack encircled with work spaces and topped by a reading room, the simple classical building was designed by the firm of Pierson and Wilson with Alexander Buel Trowbridge as consulting architect. Recognized as one of the few distinguished Art Deco buildings in Washington, D.C., it has five stories above ground, contains 180 miles of shelving, can hold 10 million volumes on its 12 tiers of stacks, and has about 13 acres of shelf space on each tier. Its exterior bronze doors on the east and west fronts are adorned with relief figures by Lee Lawrie representing the history of the written word.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States