Editing Folger Shakespeare Library (section)

==Buildings and grounds==
[[File:Folger facade (Cret).jpg|Paul Philippe Cret's original designs for the east facade of the Folger Shakespeare Library, early 1930s|thumb|right|300px]]
The main Folger building was designed by architect [[Paul Philippe Cret]]. The white marble exterior includes nine street-level [[Relief|bas-reliefs]] of scenes from Shakespeare's plays created by the sculptor [[John Gregory (sculptor)|John Gregory]], an aluminum replica of a statue of [[Puck (Shakespeare)|Puck]] by [[Brenda Putnam]], as well as many inscriptions personally selected by Henry Folger. The large [[Art Deco]] window and door grilles are aluminum.

Inside, the building is designed in a [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudor]] style with oak paneling and plaster ceilings. The Elizabethan Theatre lobby contains the original marble Puck statue (restored and moved indoors in 2001), and architectural painting by muralist [[Austin M. Purves Jr.]] The two reading rooms (one added in the early 1980s) are reserved for use by scholars who have obtained advance permission. Public spaces include the large exhibition gallery, a gift shop, and an [[Elizabethan theatre]].

===Architecture===
[[File:Folger Shakespeare Library (53830789502).jpg|thumb|Exterior of Folger Shakespeare Library (2024)]]
Henry Folger's search for an architect began with an acquaintance, Alexander B. Trowbridge, who had redesigned a home in [[Glen Cove, New York|Glen Cove]], Long Island, in the old English style the Folgers were eager to feature in their Library. Folger contracted Trowbridge in 1928, but Trowbridge preferred to consult, rather than be the primary architect, and so recommended French émigré Paul Phillippe Cret. Trowbridge and Cret shared a similar vision for the design of the Library—a [[Neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] building that [[Stripped Classicism|stripped the facade of any decorative elements]]. Though the Folgers had initially desired an entirely Elizabethan building, they ultimately agreed that a neoclassical building would blend with other existing buildings on Capitol Hill. To retain an Elizabethan quality on the exterior of the building, Cret and Trowbridge proposed to decorate the facade with scenes from Shakespeare's works. Currently, the relief sculptures includes scenes from [[Henry IV, Part 1|''Henry IV'']], ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[Macbeth]]'', ''[[King Lear]]'', [[Julius Caesar (play)|''Julius Caesar'']], ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', [[Richard III (play)|''Richard III'']], and ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''.{{sfn|Grant|2014|pp=147–149}}

In 1959, the Folger contracted [[H2L2|Harbeson, Hough, Livingston, and Larson]], a Philadelphia firm that succeeded Cret's, to design a new wing by building over a rear parking lot. The additions also yielded a roof garden on top of the new wing.<ref>Louis B. Wright, ''Of Books and Men'' (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1976), p. 152.</ref> A second Folger building, the Haskell Center, opened in 2000 across Third Street from the original building. The nineteenth-century office building was adapted by architect Andrew K. Stevenson to house the library's education and public programs staffs.<ref name="haskell">{{cite web |title=The Haskell Center for Education and Public Programs |url=https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/The_Haskell_Center_for_Education_and_Public_Programs |publisher=Folger Shakespeare Library |access-date=24 March 2018}}</ref>

The Folger currently maintains a row of townhouses on Third Street to provide housing for scholars, readers, fellows, participants in Folger Institute programs, and other visitors.

====Reading Room====
[[File:Folger's Paster Reading Room.jpg|thumb|[[Gail Kern Paster]] Reading Room]]

The Reading Room officially opened in January 1933 and today contains reference works for easy accessibility to readers. From 1977 to 1983, the Folger Shakespeare Library was renovated. Design was provided by Hartman-Cox Architects. During this renovation, it included the addition of new book stacks, renovation of office spaces, and an expansion to the Reading Room.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Folger Shakespeare Library|url = http://www.hartmancox.com/folger-shakespeare-library|website = Hartman-Cox Architects|access-date = 2016-01-12|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083044/http://www.hartmancox.com/folger-shakespeare-library|archive-date = 2016-03-04}}</ref> A second, more modern reading room dedicated as the Theodora Sedgwick Bond-[[William R. Bond|William Ross Bond]] Memorial Reading Room was completed in 1982.<ref name=Grant2014-196>{{harvnb|Grant|2014|p=196}}</ref> Upon [[Gail Kern Paster]]'s retirement as director of the Folger in 2011, the original reading room was renamed the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room.{{sfn|Grant|2014|p=203}}

Henry Folger wanted the Library's reading room to feel at once like a private home and the Great Hall of an English college. It features stained-glass windows and a large stone fireplace which has never been used. The large stained-glass window overlooking what is now the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room was designed and created by [[Nicola D'Ascenzo]], who depicted the familiar "[[Seven Ages of Man]]" soliloquy from ''[[As You Like It]]''.{{sfn|Grant|2014|p=154}}

====Elizabethan Theatre====
Initially, the Elizabethan Theatre was not intended for theatrical performance. The original model was the [[Fortune Playhouse]], and then the [[Globe Theatre]]; these models proved difficult to replicate exactly, and the Folgers ultimately decided to incorporate features from multiple theaters to give visitors a general picture of a theater during the Elizabethan era. Before Folger Theatre productions began, the Elizabethan Theatre was used for concert performances and academic lectures. The theater, which seats around 260, has no pit. Painted on the ceiling is a well-known quote from ''As You Like It'': "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."{{sfn|Grant|2014|p=151}}

The first theatrical performance in the Elizabethan Theatre was a 1949 production of ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'' by the Amherst Masquers. The Folger Theatre Group formed in 1970 when the Elizabethan Theatre became compliant with Washington, D.C. fire safety laws. Early productions included ''Dionysus Wants You!'', which adapted ''[[The Bacchae]]'' into a rock musical, and ''[[Twelfth Night]]''.{{sfn|Grant|2014|p=194}}

====Elizabethan Garden====
At the east end of the building is an Elizabethan Garden featuring plants from Shakespeare's plays, opened in 1989 amid the four magnolias planted by Emily Jordan Folger in 1932. In 2003, several sculptures by [[Greg Wyatt]] based on Shakespeare's plays joined the Elizabethan plants in the garden.

====West garden====
Sculptor [[Brenda Putnam]] was hired in May 1930 to design a sculpture of [[Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)|Puck]] for a garden on the west side of the building. Decades of exposure weakened the statue, and after Puck's right hand was found across the street at the Library of Congress in 2000, the original piece was moved. It now sits above the entrance to the Elizabethan Theatre, and an aluminum statue replaced the original in the garden.<ref name=Grant2014-200>{{harvnb|Grant|2014|p=200}}</ref>

The west garden's lawn shrank during the 1959 additions to the library, when part of its space was paved for a new staff parking area.<ref>Wright 1976, p. 152.</ref>

{{wide image|Folger West Front.jpg|720px|An aluminum casting of [[Brenda Putnam]]'s original statue of [[Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)|Puck]] stands in the west garden of the Folger Shakespeare Library.}}

====Renovations====
The Folger Library and Theatre have undergone major renovations over the past six years, with the building being closed to daytime visitors since January 2020.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.folger.edu/visit/our-building-and-grounds/building-renovation/#updates | title=Building renovation &#124; Folger Shakespeare Library | date=14 August 2024 }}</ref> The building reopened on June 21, 2024. The renovations added a new learning lab,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.folger.edu/visit/our-building-and-grounds/#learning-lab | title=Our building and grounds &#124; Folger Shakespeare Library | date=11 October 2023 }}</ref> new exhibits, outdoor gardens featuring a new Juliet balcony, and a reimagined great hall with a cafe (Quill & Crumb).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.folger.edu/visit/folger-cafe-quill-crumb/ | title=Folger Café: Quill & Crumb &#124; Folger Shakespeare Library }}</ref>