The renewal and expansion of the Folger Shakespeare Library is the result of more than 10 years of planning to make the institution a more inclusive, experiential, and welcoming place. Built in 1932 and designed by Paul Cret, the breadth and difficulty of expanding the new program beneath a building on the National Register of Historic Places cannot be understated. Located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the below-grade addition is entered through memorial gardens, guiding the visitor from the city into a previously hidden world, now revealed and accessible to all.