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Pic of the Week: Architectural Drawing

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Interior perspective of reading room, John Adams Building (Annex). Drawing shows alternate scheme for mural, formica wall panelling, and acoustic blocks.

Today’s Pic of the Week is a colorful drawing of the proposed interior of one of our reading rooms by our building’s architects, Pierson & Wilson. This drawing epitomizes the amount of detail, labor, and materials that went into the construction of the Adams Building- from the green formica wall paneling (Formica Insulation Co., Cincinnati, OH) to the hand painted murals (later created by Ezra Winter); and from the Phantasia Roseal marble wainscot (Knoxville,TN) and the Westfield Green marble base on the columns (Westfield, MA) to the nickel and bronze grill work on the doors (Flour City Ornamental Iron Works, Minneapolis, MN). Not only is the Adams Building a wonderful example of the U.S. Art Deco movement inspired by the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderne held in Paris, but it is also a perfect representation of the ingenuity of the 1930’s industrial arts.

My colleagues and I have been delving into the LC archives to identify specific details of the art and architecture found inside and outside the Adams Building. Our goal is to document and share with our readers the various artisans, sculptures, materials, manufacturers, and companies that contributed to the beauty of this building. It was interesting to discover that the construction of this building was a WPA project and listed in President Roosevelt’s National Industrial Recovery Act, Public Works and Construction Projects, Section 203.

Comments (2)

  1. Thank you very much for the interesting information. I look forward to hear more from you about the Adams Building of the Library of Congress.

  2. Thanx for sharing dis info..I’m finding Library of Congress as one of d top most source of info since ages in d history of mankind..I love & respect this largest ever fountain of knowledge ….

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