In honor of the dedication of George W. Bush’s Presidential Library, designed by Robert A. M. Stern, ARCHITECT examines three legacy buildings of past presidents, through photographs gathered by Esto.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas, by Gordon Bunshaft…
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas, by Gordon Bunshaft / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Unadorned travertine walls on the east and west provide a monoli…
Unadorned travertine walls on the east and west provide a monolithic appearance for the museum.
William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Ark., by Po…
William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Ark., by Polshek Partnership Architects (now known as Ennead Architects).
The main approach to the Clinton Presidential Center cuts throug…
The main approach to the Clinton Presidential Center cuts through a 30-acre city park beside the river.
Exterior circulation adds a thermal buffer to the museum, contri…
Exterior circulation adds a thermal buffer to the museum, contributing to its LEED Platinum certification.
Extensive glazing allows daylight to reach interior spaces, whil…
Extensive glazing allows daylight to reach interior spaces, while providing views toward the Arkansas River and the surrounding park.
A solar screen reduces interior solar gain, while temperatures a…
A solar screen reduces interior solar gain, while temperatures are mitigated by demand-controlled ventilation and radiant floors.
FDR Presidential Library Visitor Center, Hyde Park, N.Y., by R.M…
FDR Presidential Library Visitor Center, Hyde Park, N.Y., by R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects with exhibition design and signage by C&G Partners.
The 50,000-square-foot visitor center expands offices for FDR Li…
The 50,000-square-foot visitor center expands offices for FDR Library administrative staff while providing additional exhibition space.
Extensive glazing allows views out to the courtyard, which featu…
Extensive glazing allows views out to the courtyard, which features life-sized statues of Franklin and Eleanor Roosebelt, and beyond, to the FDR Museum.
To complement ARCHITECT’s coverage of the George W. Bush Library opening, Esto’s photographers gathered a collection of three past presidential ventures: those of Lyndon Baines Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the latter of whom is credited as having begun the tradition of the presidential library. During his second term, Roosevelt recognized the importance making available for research the ever-accumulating documents of his administration; after raising private funds and donating land in his hometown of Hyde Park, N.Y., he commissioned the library, which was completed and donated to the National Archives in 1940. Additions to the library made the preservation of Eleanor Roosevelt’s collection of over 3 million pages possible; a LEED Silver-certified visitor center opened in 2003 to further expand amenities and services for library patrons. Subsequent libraries—which serve mainly as archives and museums for their respective presidents, as well as permanent legacies—were enabled by the passing of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955.
Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill oversaw the LBJ Presidential Library, in Austin, Texas—the most-visited library of the National Archives collection—which is an unadorned 10-story travertine monolith on UT Austin’s campus that features a 7/8-scale recreation of Johnson’s Oval Office. The library’s Great Hall boasts a ceremonial staircase and views into four floors of its eight-level archive, which contains 5000 hours of recordings from Johnson’s tenure as president; an animatronic version of President Johnson greets visitors at the library entrance.
The first federal building to earn LEED Platinum, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects (now known as Ennead Architects), cantilevers out over the Arkansas River in Little Rock; the Clinton Library’s archives feature 21 million emails and 79,000 artifacts, making its collection the largest of the presidential libraries. The library shares a campus with the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas.
To see more of Esto’s collection online, please visit Esto.com, or visit ARCHITECT’s collection of Esto Galleries.
Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA, LEED Green Associate, is the former associate design editor for ARCHITECT, and still covers architecture and design in Washington, D.C. He earned his M.Arch. at UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design. Follow Deane on Twitter at @deane_madsen.
