John Adams Building

Built in the 1930s, it is named for John Adams, the second president, who signed the law creating the Library of Congress in 1800.

It is designed in a restrained but very detailed Art Deco style[1] and faced in white Georgia marble.

The building is faced in white Georgia marble and incorporated the use of new materials at the time such as acoustical block, formica, vitrolite, and glass tubing.

[5][6] The south entrance doors (not currently used) facing Independence Avenue are reached by a stairway decorated with stylized owls and lamps.

Before it moved to expanded quarters in the James Madison Memorial Building, this was the entrance for the United States Copyright Office, which is under the jurisdiction of the Librarian of Congress.

The John Adams Building of the Library of Congress
Adams Building - South Reading Room, with murals by Ezra Winter
Exterior detail near an entrance
Lee Lawrie , sculpted bronze figures, east entrance doors
Adams Building from the south – part of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building can be seen at left
Monumental Glass Doors at Library of Congress John Adams Building, installed in 2013 in part to protect the original bronze doors, which they mimic in design