Art and Architecture of the John Adams Building
In 1930, Congress approved, and President Herbert Hoover signed, a congressional appropriation to build an annex and tunnel to the Library of Congress (Jefferson Building). The Library of Congress Annex opened in 1939. On June 13, 1980, the building was renamed as the John Adams Building, in honor of second president John Adams, who signed the law that established a library for Congress in 1800.
The architectural style of the Library's John Adams Building is a mixture of Art Deco and traditional Beaux-Arts. The Annex has also been classified as an example of Public Works Administration project of moderne architecture, a style used frequently in projects from the 1930s that blend Beaux-Arts and Art Deco designs. Ezra Winter painted the murals featured in the north and south reading rooms on the 5th floor of the building.
Learn more about the building construction and history in “A Handsome Box”: The Adams Building and in Inside Adams blog posts about the John Adams Building.