Beaux-Arts Style by bmac62
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Description
This is the front façade of the Library of Congress building in Washington, D.C. The building is also known as the Thomas Jefferson Building. I have left this photo very large so you can zoom in for more detail. The project was begun in 1886 and completed in 1898. Much intrigue existed among the architects and members of Congress. Oh, well, didn't Michelangelo have trouble with the Pope over the Sistine Chapel too? :-)
The day I took this picture from across the street on the Capital grounds, I had no idea what the inside design looks like. It is palatial! There remains so much that we want to see in Washington that we've put it back on our "bucket list".
Here's a link for anyone interested in more detail, Library of Congress Building.
Comments (18)
Faemike55
stunning capture
durleybeachbum
Fabuloso! They spared no expense in those days, and It was worth every penny!
jendellas
Inside is equally as amazing as outside. Fabulous building & info.
eekdog Online Now!
Such an amazing old building with great architecture. Nice shot.
aksirp
Zoom is it worth! great details to see, love this straight architecture and photo!
jayfar
A magnificent zoom to see all the wonderful architecture Bill, a top shot sir.
T.Rex
WOW! THANKS a lot, Bill! I feel I've seen more of Washington than having been there. And thanks for the link! Fantastic architecture. Keep up the good work! :-)
kgb224
Amazing capture Bill. God bless.
awjay
superb building
RodS
This building was built to impress, and it certainly does that! I see lots and lots of antennae on the roof - and I'll bet they don't mention what they're for during the tours.....
You really got a great shot of it, Bill!
wysiwig
A temple dedicated to literacy. As someone with a degree in library science this was the holy grail. Of course it was closed when I visited. An impressive image and the link with its history and interior shots is fantastic.
helanker
WOW! What a beautiful building. Love great architecture. It never fails to impress me :) Superb shot, which helps alot too. :)
bobrgallegos
Great very detailed capture!!
junge1
Great capture of this beautiful building Bill!
photosynthesis
A classically elegant photo of a classically elegant building. Now if we can just get some of our congressmen to read some history & science (& a good dose of ethics) from their own library, maybe we can get some rational legislation passed...
Richardphotos
sure nice to see such architectural palace like buildings, but then I think about all the taxes paid by citizens.
superb capture
auntietk
It has such beautiful balance. Looking at it as a whole, I think, "something could be removed, it's pretty busy." But I think about what I might take away, and the answer keeps being, "nothing." It's a gorgeous building!
anahata.c
As I said in Tara's gallery, I'm only back for a quick visit (my uploads are only for special occasions right now), but I'm overdue in your gallery, and I have greatly appreciated your comments (thank you so much), so I wanted to do at least an image tonight. I'll be back for more soon. And I ask myself, why this shot, of all you've posted? You have airplane shots, for instance, which are filled with great light and shadow and sheen---your current upload is tremendous in the way you captured that plane's curved and patched-together surface, great job on that, Bill! But this strikes me as a really tough shot, because of the shadow so prevalent on the facade, the massivity of the facade (always hard to capture a mountainous facade because it tends to dominate everything), the difficulty of capturing a whole facade like this from just one angle, etc. When I zoomed this, I thought: You did it again, you got a big bold facade with lots of nuance and visual poetry, while still getting a sense of mass and presence. Beaux-Arts can be very busy, but it can also be graceful: Despite the massivity of this, you definitely caught 'graceful'. You got lots of detail in the shadow; and the play of light and dark, as we move along those columns in front, is wonderful and subtle. Your composition gives that huge, almost Eastern European dome prominence, while it tapers off on the right. There's balance there. And I esp notice that you cropped out the bottom but for a sliver of ground, which makes the building seem like a big cliff emerging out of the earth. The big tree is a perfect "go-between" between the ground and the building.
And I've used the LOCongress website so much (its photography collection is superb, esp from the Depression) (and they offer uncompressed versions too), but never seen the facade: Man, I never expected this! The monumental stairs are actually just a "part" of this shot, because so much of the facade is present as well. Monumentality and subtlety in your shot, with a tinge of age and even sadness (in the shadow), and your usual balance of fine detail, light, shade etc. Oh, and if I haven't said it already (like, 20 times), your trip, you two, made me aware of DC for the first time in my life, as a huge compendium of amazing sights. One of these days I'll get there, thanks to you two...