A towering figure symbolizing art, conceived by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and executed by François Tonnetti-Dozzi, stands above one of the columns of the Main Reading Room, with statues of Michelangelo and Beethoven below. - Anne Day
First proposal: December 1872
Congressional authorization: April 1886
Clearing of site begins: October 1886
New plan approved: March 1889
Foundation completed: September 1889
Cornerstone laid: August 1890
Dome completed: December 1893
Superstructure completed: July 1894
Mural paintings completed: February 1897
Building opens: November 1897
Southeast courtyard book stack opens: January 1910
Coolidge Auditorium in northwest courtyard opens: October 1925
Northeast courtyard book stack opens: March 1927
Extension of east front completed: January 1933
Building named for Thomas Jefferson: June 13, 1980
Official beginning of restoration project: May 17, 1985
Jefferson Building officially reopens to public: May 1, 1997
100th birthday of the Thomas Jefferson Building: Nov. 1, 1997
Statistics
The building's original cost was $6,345,000. When completed in 1897, it included:
- 409,000 cubic feet of granite
- 500,000 enameled bricks
- 22 million red bricks
- 3,800 tons of steel and iron
- 73,000 barrels of cement
- 2,165 windows
- 15 varieties of marble
Today the building's floor space area is approximately 600,000 square feet, and the building contains approximately 104 miles of shelving.
