Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library
Trustees of Amherst College
Washington, DC
These renovations and additions to Paul Cret's 1920s stripped classical library which house the foremost collection of Shakespearean material in the world. New stacks were tucked into two underground levels at the rear of the building. Former interior stack areas became office space, the existing office and service spaces were remodeled, and the entire building was air-conditioned. The third and final phase consisted of adding a new reading room and a "treasure room" leading into the vaults containing the Folger's rare book collection. The dimensions of the new three-part reading room are similar to those of the existing reading room, but the new is light and airy while the old is dark and baronial in its grandeur.