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President Taft dedicated the building - the largest marble building in the whole United States at the time - on May 23, 1911.įrom the awe-inspiring ceiling of the Rose Main Reading Room to the stately library lions out front, there is much to say about the splendor of the New York Public Library. For years, as the building was constructed, people speculated about the wonders they would behold once the library opened. The real reason the site was chosen, though, was because of its proximity to the Astor Library and Lenox Library.Ĭompetition brings out the best in design, so that’s how the architects, John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings, were selected on November 11, 1897. If you know where to look - in the lower stairwell of South Court - you can still see remnants of the reservoir walls hidden within the library. It took 500 workers to remove the reservoir.
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Reservoir Square had been renamed Bryant Park after William Cullen Bryant, an abolitionist and the editor of the New York Evening Post in 1884, but the reservoir on the east side of the park wasn’t removed until the summer of 1899 - after plans for the library were already underway. Maybe the trustees took the idea of “deep learning” a little too literally because the area selected for the library was the location of the city’s Lower Reservoir, part of the Croton Distributing Reservoir that served the city with water. That distinction goes to The New York Society Library, which began operating out of a room in the former City Hall in 1754 (it’s since moved to the Upper East Side).
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And then, I’d pull my notebook and pen out of my tote bag and begin writing… The Library’s Birthday Is Coming Up This MonthĪlthough it is one of the most famous libraries in the world - so iconic that it’s been depicted in countless Hollywood movies, television shows, and books - when it was founded on May 27, 1895, the New York Public Library (NYPL) was by no means the first library open to the public in New York City. For a while, I’d read, opening one of my favorite novels haphazardly to any page just to absorb myself in the language, the flow of words on the page, the long, rambling sentences that stirred my imagination. Some days, I’d climb the steps to the second floor of my neighborhood library and sit down at one of the strong, wooden tables. Each book was like an oyster: opening the well-worn cover revealed a beautiful, mysterious gem. I spent hours there, getting lost among the stacks. What sold me on the first apartment I rented in New York City was its proximity to one of the branches of the New York Public Library. Join Thomas Insights Senior Editor Stephanie Nikolopoulos as she takes a "byte" out of the history and future of the Big Apple in this monthly column. It’s home to iconic skyscrapers and intricate subway tunnels, the neon lights of Times Square and delicate flora of Central Park, brick-and-mortar shops and dotcoms - and they’re all driven by the manufacturing industry. New York City attracts captains of industry, innovators, and creatives. Sign up here to get the day’s top stories delivered straight to your inbox. Welcome to Thomas Insights - every day, we publish the latest news and analysis to keep our readers up to date on what’s happening in industry.