Everything about The John Adams Building totally explained
The
John Adams Building is one of three
library buildings of the
Library of Congress in the
United States. The building was originally built simply as an
annex to the Library's Main Building (the
Thomas Jefferson Building). It opened its doors to the public on
January 3,
1939. It is located on Second Street SE between
Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street in Washington, DC.
History
The idea to construct a new library building was presented to the
United States Congress in
1928 at the urging of
Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam. The bill was sponsored by
Robert Luce, chairman of the
House Committee on the Library. On
June 13,
1930, $6,500,000 was appropriated for the building's construction, for a tunnel connecting it to the Main Building, and for changes in the east front of the Main Building, including the construction of a Rare Book Room. An additional appropriation approved on
June 6,
1935, brought the total authorization to $8,226,457.
Architect of the Capitol David Lynn took charge of the project and commissioned the
Washington architectural firm of Pierson & Wilson to design the building, with
Alexander Buel Trowbridge as consulting architect. The contract stipulated completion by
June 24,
1938, but the building wasn't ready for occupancy until
December 2,
1938. The move of the Card Division started on
December 12, and it opened its doors to the public in the new building on
January 3,
1939.
The building is five stories in height above ground, with the fifth story set back 35 feet. It contains 180 miles of shelving (compared to 104 miles in the Jefferson Building) and can hold ten million volumes. There are 12 tiers of stacks, extending from the cellar to the fourth floor. Each tier provides about 13 acres of shelf space.
On
April 13,
1976, in a ceremony at the
Jefferson Memorial marking the birthday of
Thomas Jefferson,
US President Gerald Ford signed into law the act to change the name of the Library of Congress Annex Building to the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building. On
June 13,
1980, the structure acquired its present name, which honors
John Adams, the former President of the United States who in
1800 approved the law establishing the Library of Congress.
The building is faced in white
Georgia marble and incorporated the use of new materials at the time such as acoustical block,
formica, vitrolit, and
glass tubing.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Adams Building'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://john_adams_building.totallyexplained.com">John Adams Building Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
