![]() Schwarzman Building was laid in November of 1902. The first cornerstone, weighing 7.5 tons, for the Stephen A. The rose reading room opened in the fall of 2016, reinforced and stronger than ever. A replica of the ceiling sky mural was made on canvas and in situ. With the help of WJE Engineers and Architects and EverGreene Architectural Arts, all 102 ceiling rosettes were restored, and wreaths were reinforced. This prompted an extensive restoration of the reading room. In 2014, one of the ornate rosettes, weighing 16 pounds, fell from the ceiling shattered to pieces. This mural was painted to give readers a sense of calm and serenity, just like it would feel to read in the open air and under the sky. Surrounding this mural is a frame of intricate carving and plasterwork featuring floral motifs, rosettes, and acanthus leaves, among others. The 50-foot high ceiling houses a 105-year-old mural of the sky, “Morking Sky”, painted by James Wall Finn. The Rose Reading Room at Manhattan‘s New York Public Library first opened in 1911. Mural Restoration | New York Public Library Old Croton Reservoir © NYPL Entrance © South Court Remains ©Nicole Saraniero 5. Today, the library still houses pieces of the reservoir walls on the South Court’s lower level. Once the reservoir was deemed obsolete in the 1890s, it was demolished to make way for the new library building. The reservoir served as a vital source of water supply for all of New York City for over a century. The site originally housed the Old Croton Reservoir, which held 20 million gallons of water within its 50-foot tall walls. It was decided to be located on 5th Avenue, neighboring the Grand Central Terminal, for its ample size and central location. The site for the New York Public Library’s main building was much debated. OpeningDay_ CirculatingLibrary_HarryMillerLydenberg1917 Lenox Library 1905 ©Library of Congress 4. While the reigning libraries at the time, namely the British Library and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, contained around 1.75 and 3 million volumes, the New York Public Libraries housed about 350,000 volumes when it opened. The New York Public Library was then formed in 1895 and is known as the New York Public Library, Astor Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. While neither were deemed as public institutions, both were facing extreme financial difficulties. In the nineteenth century, when New York was shaping up to be one of the most important urban cities globally, it had only two libraries – the Astor and Lennox libraries. New York Public Library Origins | New York Public Library Preliminary Sketches © Third Floor Plan ©Library of Congress Transverse Section ©Library of Congress Catalog Room © 3. ![]() The parti stated that the library had to be a three-story building having a central core and a grand entry hall, among a series of primary functions and parameters for the design. The first director of the library, Sohn Shaw Billings, drafted a set of guidelines, dimensions and a parti. Their entry prevailed over many senior architects of the day, including McKim, Mead & White, where both John Carrere & Thomas Hastings had trained in the early 1880s. Designing the New York Public LibraryĪmong all the designers invited to submit designs for the New York Public Library, Carrere & Hastings won the competition with a practical and monumental design for the library. New York Public Library – Facade ©A History of the NYPL pg.477 Astor Hall’s Beaux-Arts Features ©Rashmi Nair Ceiling Detail ©Max Touhey Map Division Room ©Peter Aaron 2. Carrere & Hastings celebrated the Beaux-Arts style in their design by creating the drama using intricate ornamental details, lavishly decorated interiors, and grand stairways among others. The style is characterized by symmetry, grandeur, elaborate ornamentation, and visual hierarchy. It combines the principles of ancient Greek classical architecture and the Renaissance concepts from Rome. This style was identified as the ‘American Renaissance’ in the early 20th century when the term “Beaux-Arts” wasn’t as widely used. The monumental library building, too, was designed in the style of what they studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In the 1880s, many architects from New York City, including Carrere & Hastings, gained an education from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. ![]() ![]() Architecture Style | New York Public Library Here are 10 things you didn’t know about the New York Public Library: 1. The New York Public Library ©Library of Congress ![]()
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