Built in 1932 and designed by Paul Cret, the original building was principally a research library and a repository for works by and about Shakespeare. Its location on East Capitol Street is adjacent to the Library of Congress and diagonally opposite the Supreme Court. The breadth and difficulty of expanding the new program beneath a building on the National Register of Historic Places cannot be understated. The below-grade addition, beneath the historic terrace at the front of the building, is entered through memorial gardens, providing both quiet and reflection as the visitor moves from the city into a previously hidden world, now revealed and accessible to all.