New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
- Architect
- Carrère and Hastings
- Year
- 1897
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Manhattan, NY
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The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the flagship of the New York Public Library system, stands on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, directly east of Bryant Park, on the former site of the Croton Reservoir. Designed by Carrère and Hastings in the Beaux-Arts style, it opened May 23, 1911, after the library was formed in the late 1890s from a combination of two earlier libraries. As of 2015 it held an estimated 2.5 million volumes across its stacks.
the building
The marble facade. The building's marble exterior carries ornate Beaux-Arts detailing, with a grand entrance and stairway facing Fifth Avenue at 41st Street.
the style
Carrère and Hastings built the library in the Beaux-Arts style, giving the flagship branch a monumental, temple-like presence appropriate to its role as the system's central research library.
More on Beaux-Artsthe architect
The building was designed by the firm Carrère and Hastings, major practitioners of the Beaux-Arts style in America.
significance
The building is a New York City Individual Landmark (LP-00246), designated January 11, 1967, and is also a National Historic Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places.
nearby
- 500 Fifth Avenue Building
- Engineers' Club Building
- Knox Building
- W. R. Grace Building
- Century Association Clubhouse
- B. Altman and Company Building