Buildings and grounds

The site of two to three exhibitions a year, drawn primarily from the Folger collection, the Folger's Great Hall evokes the gallery of a 16th-century house with its soaring plaster strapwork ceiling and oak-paneled walls. The terracotta floor incorporates masks of Comedy and Tragedy as well as the titles of Shakespeare's plays. The First Folio of Shakespeare is on permanent display, as is a white marble memorial bust of Henry Folger produced by John Gregory, the same artist who created the Folger's exterior bas-reliefs.

The shield and great eagle of the United States grace the west end of the hall, nearest the Capitol. The coat of arms of Elizabeth I, Shakespeare's queen, represents Great Britain at the east end. Each heraldic device is accompanied by a quotation from a theatrical giant—respectively, the American drama critic William Winter and the British thespian David Garrick.

Just off the hall is an additional space, the Shakespeare Gallery, established in the 1990s with the help of the Lila Wallace–Reader's Digest Fund. The Shakespeare Gallery offers a visitor orientation video and a multimedia exhibition of highlights from the Folger collection.

Built like the great hall of an Elizabethan house, the 131-foot Gail Kern Paster Reading Room incorporates 16th- and 17th-century French and Flemish tapestries, carved oak paneling, a high trussed roof, and a large fireplace. Its name was changed from the Old Reading Room to the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room in 2011, in honor of retiring Folger Director Gail Kern Paster.

On the hall screen at the east end hang portraits of the Folgers in their academic robes, painted by the British artist Frank O. Salisbury. Above the Salisbury portraits is a bust of Shakespeare based on his memorial in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. The ashes of both Folgers are immured behind a memorial plaque.

At the west end is one of the Folger's treasures, a large stained-glass window depicting the Seven Ages of Man from Jaques's speech in As You Like It.

The Paster Reading Room is devoted to scholarly research. It opens to the public for tours on Saturdays and for Shakespeare's Birthday Celebration in April.

Constructed in the early 1980s as a modern complement to the original Reading Room, the award-winning New Reading Room is topped by glass panes that admit indirect daylight and its 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.

The Wyatt R. and Susan N. Haskell Center for Education and Public Programs is located just across Third Street from the main building. Dedicated on February 25, 2000, the center houses a lively variety of Folger activities, including the Folger's K–12 education programs and administrative offices for the Folger Theatre, Folger Poetry, and Folger Consort, and the docents.

Among other amenities, it offers the Foulke Room, a large, window-filled room for seminars, meetings, and rehearsals; the Cafritz Foundation Center for Distance Learning; and office and meeting space.

Architect Andrew Stevenson faced several challenges in converting a 19th-century office building, formerly a funeral parlor, into this modern workspace. Among these difficulties was a basement less than six feet deep. As part of the project, the existing building was underpinned while a new bottom floor was excavated, creating a functional lower level that became one of four usable floors.