New York Public Library

Fifth Avenue, bet. 40th and 42nd Street, NY, NY
Architecture by Carrere & Hastings
Established in 1895, Opened in 1911, Photographed in 2010

This historical piece of architecture, the library, together with McKim, Mead & White's demolished
Pennsylvania Station and Warren & Wetmore's and Reed & Stem's Grand Central Terminal, is
one of the top examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in United States.

The construction began in 1902, and it consumed enormous budget of 9 million dollars, as the project
would grow over time. The whole things took 9 years to build. It took a half of time to build the outside
of the building , and it took the equal amount of time, almost 4 and a half years to build the inside.
Partially because they designed not only the walls or ceilings, but also they designed the chairs, tables
and shelves. As you see in some of their main rooms, such as the rose reading room (the picture on top),
everything has a certain level of synchronicity. This gorgeously decorated rose reading room is nearly
300ft long, with 52-foot high ceilings.

The exterior white marble came from Vermont and two-thirds of it was rejected as not high enough
quality. The marble walls are one foot thick and the basement of the structure has additional brick walls
four feet thick.

The first book that was ever checked out at the NY public library, by the way, was "Ethical Ideas of Our
Time" a study of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy. The slip was introduced at 9:08 am, and he got
his book 6 minutes later.

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Due to the current 2009 economic crisis, NYPL is facing a $23.2 million funding cut when the new
fiscal year begins July 1. This will result in the expected elimination of 465 jobs, and in sharply scaled
back branch operating hours. To make an action, please visit the following link:
Don't close the book

Reference:
-Bowery Boys Podcast, episode #17
-NYC-Architecture
-Wikipedia

To view the rest of interior photographs, visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.