Thomas Jefferson Building: Large-Scale Grandeur

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we look at one of America’s most majestic and impressive Federal structures.

The Thomas Jefferson Building, which faces the Capitol Building, is four stories tall at its midsection, with a copper-topped dome positioned in the structure’s center. Exact symmetry is evident in the careful placement of pairs of capital-topped Corinthian columns, arched windows with capstones, and vertical rectangular windows topped with decorative pediments. At its main entrance, the granite building also features a split staircase upstaged by bronze fountain sculptures of the Court of Neptune, featuring the Roman god of fresh and sea water as well as sea nymphs. Studio Melange/Shutterstock

The most significant U.S. building, named after Declaration of Independence writer and third president Thomas Jefferson, is larger than an acre or an average city block. Looming large in the heart of Washington, the Thomas Jefferson Building houses the main library in the Library of Congress complex. The building is grand in scale and design, sporting the highly decorative Beaux-Arts architectural style, which gained prominence in 19th-century Paris.

The building conveys the eclecticism associated with France’s 19th-century Beaux-Arts architecture. The style drew inspiration from ancient Roman and Greek models and incorporated elements from Renaissance and Baroque architecture, which is especially opulent in terms of materials and designs.