Constructed in the early 1980s as a modern complement to the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room (then known as the Old Reading Room), the award-winning New Reading Room is topped by glass panes that admit indirect daylight, making it an excellent workspace for scholars. The long walls are filled with paintings from the Folger's large Shakespeare collection. Wooden pillars leading from the old room into the new room and high, stone-trimmed arches reflect the Renaissance spirit of Paul Cret's original design.
The New Reading Room, designed by Warren Cox of Hartman-Cox Architects, honors Theodora Sedgwick Bond and William Ross Bond, for whom it is a memorial.
