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The Library of Congress

The national library is one of our underappreciated architectural achievements. Henry Hope Reed put together a handsome tribute to and record of the building. What a shame it is located in Washington, D.C.

Published at 8:01 pm on Wednesday 16 April 2008. Categories: Architecture Tags: .
Comments

What a beautifully lit photograph. Not at all easy in such an interior setting. It is almost pointless to commenr on the architecture — as if I was the second person on this blog to see it!!!

— Andrew Heath 17 Apr 2008 3:43 pm

Thanks for this _ although I have used the catalogue on line< i have never been to this building, being in the Antipodes. what a wonderful piece of what we would call Victoriana.

— Fr Scott Moncrieff 19 Apr 2008 10:35 pm

The Jefferson building is really a wonder, inside and out. But, like all public buildings in D.C. of the era, it’s first and foremost a temple in honor of the thing it houses, rather than a proper house for that thing. Really, the foyer of the Jefferson building always makes me wonder “Gee, I wonder if the second act is gonna start soon.”

I prefer my libraries a bit more austere, book-centric, and, well, library-like. These qualities facilitate reading and contemplation. The Jefferson building, rather, is a testament to the Nation’s ascendancy.

But, to God I wish that the LOC had taken a cue from the Jefferson building when they built the Monroe building in 1988-a brown, windowless bunker, soulless and unworthy of its contents.

— Mr. WAC 24 Apr 2008 12:01 am

At least in DC we are not in a habit of destroying our wonderful train stations.

— Gleb 7 May 2008 11:34 pm
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