The Great Hall South Side 

Floor (South Corridor)

The marble floor of the Great Hall contains a number of incised brass inlays. The center represents the sun, on which are noted the four cardinal points of the compass, which indicates the orientation of the building. A decorative scale pattern encloses the sun as a centerpiece.

Twelve squares at the perimeter of the floor of the Great Hall represent the signs of the zodiac. The other squares form two patterns of rosettes. They are embedded in blocks of dark red, richly mottled French marble, around which are borders of pure white Italian marble.

Proceeding clockwise from bottom left, the zodiac signs are Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, and Virgo.

George Washington Bust

The bronze bust of George Washington is a copy of a work by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828).

Celebration of Electricity (South Corridor)

The importance of electricity is celebrated throughout the Jefferson Building. A bust of Benjamin Franklin is placed outside the central window of the Jefferson Building. Franklin was not only a statesman but also a scientist who made important discoveries about electricity.

When the building was completed in 1897, the United States was eager to celebrate many American inventions made practicable by scientific advances relating to electricity. These include the telegraph, the telephone, electric motors and lighting devices, and the elevator. The bare light bulbs throughout the building show how important the introduction of electric light was to America and this building.

Putti - Mechanic to Farmer

The figures on the staircase are known as putti and represent the various occupations, habits, and pursuits of contemporary American life in the late nineteenth century, when the building was opened.

A putto (plural putti) is a figure of a pudgy human baby, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance art.

• A Mechanic, with a cogwheel, a pair of pincers, and a crown of laurel, signifying the triumphs of invention

• A Hunter, with his gun, holding up by the ears a rabbit that he has just shot

• An infant Bacchanalian, with Bacchus’s ivy and panther skin, hilariously holding a champagne glass in one hand

• A Farmer, with a sickle and a sheaf of wheat

North America and Africa

America is represented as an Indian, with a tall headdress of feathers, a bow and arrow, and a wampum necklace. With one hand he shades his eyes while he gazes intently into the distance. Africa is represented with a war club and a necklace of wild beasts’ claws.

Putti - Fisherman to Cook

The figures on the staircase are known as putti and represent the various occupations, habits, and pursuits of contemporary American life in the late nineteenth century, when the building was opened.

A putto (plural putti) is a figure of a pudgy human baby, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance art.

• A Fisherman, with rod and reel, taking from his hook a fish that he has landed

• A Little Mars, (the Roman god of war) polishing his helmet

• A Chemist, with a blowpipe

• A Cook, with a pot hot from the fire

Cherubs (South Staircase)

Cherubs represent the literary genres of Comedy, Poetry, and Tragedy. The first has a comic mask and the ivy-wreathed wand of Bacchus, to whom the first comedies were dedicated. Poetry has a scroll, and Tragedy holds a tragic mask.

The Four Seasons

The four circular panels by Frank Weston Benson (American painter, 1862–1951) above the doorways represent the four seasons, from left to right; Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

• Spring
  "IT IS THE MIND THAT MAKES THE MAN, AND OUR VIGOR
  IS IN OUR IMMORTAL SOUL"
  Ovid (43BC–AD17), Metamorphoses (AD8)
  
  
• Summer
  "THEY ARE NEVER ALONE THAT ARE ACCOMPANIED WITH NOBLE THOUGHTS"
  Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), Arcadia (1590)
  
  
• Autumn
  "MAN IS ONE WORLD AND HATH ANOTHER TO ATTEND HIM"
  George Herbert (1593–1633), The Temple (1633)
  
  
• Winter
  "TONGUES IN TREES, BOOKS IN THE RUNNING BROOKS, SERMON IN STONES, AND GOOD IN EVERYTHING"
  William Shakespeare (1564–1616), As You Like It, act 2, sc. 1 (ca. 1600)

The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford and Charles Elliot, president of Harvard University.

Authors

Longfellow
The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1825–1908) and Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University (1834–1926). The works of these illustrious authors were popular at the time the building was constructed, and they were considered to have made great contributions to literature and the study of history.

Henry Wordsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American Poet

Tennyson
The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1825–1908) and Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University (1834–1926). The works of these illustrious authors were popular at the time the building was constructed, and they were considered to have made great contributions to literature and the study of history.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British Poet

Gibbon The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1825–1908) and Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University (1834–1926). The works of these illustrious authors were popular at the time the building was constructed, and they were considered to have made great contributions to literature and the study of history.

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) British Historian and Statesman

Figures of Genius (South Corridor)

At the corners of the ceiling are two female figures holding a shield showing the traditional symbols of learning, a torch and a book. The figures are made of stucco and were created by Philip Martiny (French sculptor, 1858–1927). Stars surround the figures, and cherubs fly above them.

Ceiling (South Corridor)

During the renovation of the Jefferson Building during the 1990s, it was discovered that the metallic ornamentation of the ceiling, once thought to be silver leaf, is actually aluminum leaf. When the building was being constructed during the 1890s, aluminum was more precious than silver. The scale-pattern design of the six large skylights echoes that of the marble flooring beneath.