Interior: Astor Hall, Stairs, and McGraw Rotunda[5]
New York City Landmark
Designated
August 8, 2017
Reference no.
2592
Designated entity
Interior: Rose Main Reading Room and Public Catalog Room[6]
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (commonly known as the Main Branch, the 42nd Street Library, or just the New York Public Library[b]) is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The branch, one of four research libraries in the library system, contains nine separate divisions. The structure contains four stories open to the public. The main entrance steps are at Fifth Avenue at its intersection with East 41st Street. As of 2015[update], the branch contains an estimated 2.5 million volumes in its stacks.[a] The building was declared a National Historic Landmark, a National Register of Historic Places site, and a New York City designated landmark in the 1960s.
The Main Branch was built after the New York Public Library was formed as a combination of two libraries in the late 1890s. The site, along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, is located directly east of Bryant Park, on the site of the Croton Reservoir. The architectural firm Carrère and Hastings constructed the structure in the Beaux-Arts style, and the structure opened on May 23, 1911. The marble facade of the building contains ornate detailing, and the Fifth Avenue entrance is flanked by a pair of stone lions that serve as the library's icon. The interior of the building contains the Main Reading Room, a space measuring 78 by 297 feet (24 by 91 m) with a 52-foot-high (16 m) ceiling; a Public Catalog Room; and various reading rooms, offices, and art exhibitions.
The Main Branch became popular after its opening and saw four million annual visitors by the 1920s. It formerly contained a circulating library, though the circulating division of the Main Branch moved to the nearby Mid-Manhattan Library in 1970. Additional space for the library's stacks was constructed under adjacent Bryant Park in 1991, and the branch's Main Reading Room was restored in 1998. A major restoration from 2007 to 2011 was underwritten by a $100 million gift from businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman, for whom the branch was subsequently renamed. The branch underwent another expansion starting in 2018. The Main Branch has been featured in many television shows and films.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^"New York Public Library". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 16, 2007. Archived from the original on December 5, 2007.
^"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^"Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. November 7, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
^Landmarks Preservation Commission 1967.
^Landmarks Preservation Commission 1974.
^Postal 2017.
^Handbook of the New York Public Library. New York Public Library. 1921. p. 7. Retrieved January 10, 2016. The Central Building of The New York Public Library
^Cummings, Judith (December 15, 1976). "Library Will Get $3 Million Grant From U.S. Fund". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
^"A Slippery Number: How Many Books Can Fit in the New York Public Library?". The New York Times. November 28, 2015. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
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