146-528: [REDACTED] The Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station is a station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway . Located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan , it is served by the E train at all times and the M train weekdays except late nights. Fifth Avenue/53rd Street was opened in 1933 as part of the Independent Subway System 's (IND) Queens Boulevard Line. It contains two side platforms on separate levels: southbound trains to Lower Manhattan use
292-521: A pylon station . The first deep column station in the world is Mayakovskaya , opened in 1938 in Moscow. One variety of column station is the "column-wall station". In such stations, some of the spaces between the columns are replaced with walls. In this way, the resistance to earth pressure is improved in difficult ground environments. Examples of such stations in Moscow are Krestyanskaya Zastava and Dubrovka . In Saint Petersburg , Komendantsky Prospekt
438-403: A turnstile bank, where a token booth is present. A passageway leads to two staircases going up to the eastern corners of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street. There is another staircase that leads to the underground shopping arcade of 660 Fifth Avenue , which has an entrance/exit on the south side of 53rd Street west of Fifth Avenue. The part-time entrance/exit leads to Madison Avenue and is located at
584-616: A ceremony to open the main branch of the New York Public Library. U.S. president William Howard Taft presided over the ceremony, whose 15,000 guests included governor John Alden Dix and mayor William Jay Gaynor . The public was invited the following day, May 24, and tens of thousands went to the Library's "jewel in the crown". The first item called for was Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded by Delia Bacon , although this
730-564: A disabled or troubled train. A subway station may provide additional facilities, such as toilets , kiosks and amenities for staff and security services, such as Transit police . Some metro stations are interchanges , serving to transfer passengers between lines or transport systems. The platforms may be multi-level. Transfer stations handle more passengers than regular stations, with additional connecting tunnels and larger concourses to reduce walking times and manage crowd flows. In some stations, especially where trains are fully automated ,
876-462: A general reading room that could fit a thousand guests. During the design process, Hastings had wanted to shift the library building closer to Sixth Avenue, and he also proposed sinking 42nd Street to create a forecourt for the library, but both plans were rejected. The New York City Board of Estimate approved Carrère and Hastings's plans for the library in December 1897. Construction was delayed by
1022-541: A letter of protest against the plan, and Princeton history professor Anthony Grafton wrote that the proposal would inconvenience many readers. After a six-year battle and two public interest lawsuits, the Central Library Plan was abandoned in May 2014. An $ 8 million gift from Abby and Howard Milstein helped fund the renovation of the second level of stacks beneath Bryant Park. The writer Scott Sherman said that, "in
1168-495: A marble attic with six 11-foot-high (3.4 m) allegorical sculptures designed by Paul Wayland Bartlett ; the figures flank three carved plaques, one each for the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden foundations. The arches contain barrel vaults with the faces of the classical deities Juno, Minerva, and Mercury on their keystones . The faces initially all depicted Minerva, but Carrere and Hastings hired sculptor Francis Tonetti-Dozzi in 1909 to redo
1314-492: A marble balustrade. According to architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr. , the balustrade is similar to that at Versailles 's Grand Trianon . The bays are separated by Corinthian columns. The alcoves on the Fifth Avenue facade contained figures sculpted by Frederic MacMonnies , representing beauty and wisdom. These figures sit above small fountains inside the alcoves. They were shut off from 1942 and 1957, and again from
1460-548: A new entrance at 40th Street, create the Center for Research and Learning for high-school and college students, add elevator banks, and expand space for exhibitions and researchers. At the time of approval, $ 308 million of funds had been raised, and construction was expected to be completed in 2021. The renovations began in July 2018 with the start of construction on the Lenox and Astor Room,
1606-484: A project started to replace the four 2-foot-wide (0.61 m) escalators with new wider 4-foot-wide (1.2 m) escalators—two at the Madison Avenue end of the station, and two at the Fifth Avenue end. The new 94-foot (29 m) long escalators were intended to increase capacity, and could run at speeds of 90 or 120 feet (27 or 37 m) per minute. On September 8, 1959, the first of the four new 4-foot-wide escalators
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#17328550344891752-731: A scholar's center, on the second floor. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the 40th Street entrance with minor modifications in March 2019. That August, the NYPL announced that the lions outside the Main Branch's front entrance would be restored in September and October at a cost of $ 250,000. The Center for Research in the Humanities opened on the second floor in October 2019. The NYPL began presenting
1898-428: A single stone lion as its logo. Their original names, "Leo Astor" and "Leo Lenox" (in honor of the library's founders) were transformed into Lord Astor and Lady Lenox (although both lions are male), and in the 1930s they were nicknamed "Patience" and "Fortitude" by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia , who chose the names because he felt that the citizens of New York would need to possess these qualities to see themselves through
2044-621: A storage annex in Bryant Park to the west. The expansion was planned to cost $ 2 million, but was never built. After Hastings died in 1929, it was revealed that his will contained $ 100,000 for modifications to the facade, with which he had been dissatisfied. A theater collection was installed in the Main Reading Room in 1933. Two years later, the Bryant Park Open-Air Reading Room was established, operating during
2190-519: Is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets , board trains, and evacuate the system in the case of an emergency. In the United Kingdom, they are known as underground stations , most commonly used in reference to the London Underground . The location of a metro station
2336-612: Is a junction just west ( railroad south ) of this station that is controlled by a tower on the south end of the upper level platform. E trains continue west along 53rd Street while F trains turn south and enter the IND Sixth Avenue Line . The southbound platform contains an exhibit called The Subway: Design for a Modern Icon , developed by the MTA in conjunction with MoMA. Installed in January 2020, it contains excerpts of icons used throughout
2482-416: Is a type of subway station consisting of a central hall with two side halls connected by ring-like passages between a row of columns. Depending on the type of station, the rings transmit load to the columns either by "wedged arches" or through Purlins , forming a "column-purlin complex". The fundamental advantage of the column station is the significantly greater connection between the halls, compared with
2628-410: Is an example. The pylon station is a type of deep underground subway station. The basic distinguishing characteristic of the pylon station is the manner of division of the central hall from the station tunnels The pylon station consists of three separate halls, separated from each other by a row of pylons with passages between them. The independence of the halls allows the architectural form of
2774-493: Is at the expense of character. Metro stations usually feature prominent poster and video advertising, especially at locations where people are waiting, producing an alternative revenue stream for the operator . The shallow column station is a type of construction of subway stations, with the distinguishing feature being an abundance of supplementary supports for the underground cavity. Most designs employ metal columns or concrete and steel columns arranged in lines parallel to
2920-724: Is based out of the Rose Main Reading Room and the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room. The division contains 43 million items in more than 430 languages. The Irma and Paul Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy houses one of the largest publicly available genealogical collections in North America. Though the division contains many New York City-related documents, it also contains documents collected from towns, cities, counties, and states across
3066-400: Is carefully planned to provide easy access to important urban facilities such as roads, commercial centres, major buildings and other transport nodes . Most stations are located underground, with entrances/exits leading up to ground or street level. The bulk of the station is typically positioned under land reserved for public thoroughfares or parks . Placing the station underground reduces
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#17328550344893212-753: Is decorated with tiles spelling the Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen . Every metro station in Valencia , Spain has a different sculpture on the ticket-hall level. Alameda station is decorated with fragments of white tile, like the dominant style of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències . Each of the original four stations in the Olympic Green on Line 8 of the Beijing Subway are decorated in Olympic styles, while
3358-422: Is divided into an unpaid zone connected to the street, and a paid zone connected to the train platforms. The ticket barrier allows passengers with valid tickets to pass between these zones. The barrier may be operated by staff or more typically with automated turnstiles or gates that open when a transit pass is scanned or detected. Some metro systems dispense with paid zones and validate tickets with staff in
3504-540: Is famous for its Art Nouveau station entrances; while the Athens Metro is known for its display of archeological relics found during construction. However, it is not always the case that metro designers strive to make all stations artistically unique. Sir Norman Foster 's new system in Bilbao , Spain uses the same modern architecture at every station to make navigation easier for the passenger, though some may argue that this
3650-509: 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
3796-634: Is located on the east side of the block bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, 40th Street on the south, Sixth Avenue on the west, and 42nd Street on the north. The north end of the building sits above entrances to the Fifth Avenue station of the New York City Subway , serving the 7 and <7> trains. The station was built as part of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company's Flushing Line , and
3942-640: Is only one vault (hence the name). The first single-vault stations were built in Leningrad in 1975: Politekhnicheskaya and Ploshchad Muzhestva . Not long after, the first two-level single-vault transfer stations were opened in Washington DC in 1976: L'Enfant Plaza , Metro Center and Gallery Place . In the Moscow Metro there is only one deep underground single-vault station, Timiryazevskaya , in addition to several single-vault stations at shallow depth. In
4088-480: Is reached by a grand marble stairway extending west from the terrace at 41st Street. Two lion sculptures, made of Tennessee marble and sculpted by the Piccirilli Brothers based on a design by Edward Clark Potter , flank the stairway from 41st Street. According to one legend, the lions flank the steps so patrons could read "between the lions". They are a trademark of the New York Public Library, which uses
4234-760: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 , improving circulation and wayfinding, and reducing congestion by constructing new entrances, or by installing escalators and wider staircases. A list of three levels of improvements were created by the MTA and the New York City Department of City Planning . Type 1 improvements would give a developer 40,000 square feet (3,700 m) of additional floor area, Type 2 improvements would give them an additional 80,000 square feet (7,400 m), and Type 3 improvements would give them an additional 120,000 square feet (11,000 m). Initially, in 2012, two improvements were considered for
4380-524: The Astor and Lenox Libraries into the New York Public Library in 1895, along with a large bequest from Samuel J. Tilden and a donation of $ 5.2 million from Andrew Carnegie , allowed for the creation of an enormous library system. The libraries had a combined 350,000 items after the merger, which was relatively small compared to other library systems at the time. As a point of civic pride,
4526-1109: The English Romanticism genre, created in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was donated by the estate of oil financier Carl Pforzheimer in 1986. According to the New York Public Library's website, the collection contains works from English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley ; Shelley's second wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her family members, including William Godwin , Mary Wollstonecraft , and Claire Clairmont ; and other contemporaries including " Lord Byron , Teresa Guiccioli , Thomas Jefferson Hogg , Leigh Hunt , Thomas Love Peacock , Horace Smith , and Edward John Trelawny ". The Rare Book Division requires pre-registration for researchers before they are allowed to enter. The collection includes 800 incunable works published in Europe before 1501, Americana published before 1801, and American newspapers published before 1865, as well as over 20,000 broadsides , old atlases , and works about voyages. The division also contains rare Bibles , including
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4672-467: The Extell Development Company , which sought permission to construct a tower of up to 1,100 ft (340 m) tall on Fifth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets. This underground station has two levels, with the upper level serving trains bound for Lower Manhattan and the lower level serving trains bound for Queens . Each level has one track and one side platform . The E train serves
4818-509: The Great Depression . Patience is on the south side, to the left of the entrance stairway, and Fortitude on the north, to the right. The lions were restored in 1975 and in 2007–2011, and they were restored once again in late 2019. The Fifth Avenue pavilion consists of a portico with six Corinthian columns and three archways. The Corinthian columns are placed on pedestals with rosettes and Greek-fret molding. These columns support
4964-515: The Great Recession of 2008. In 2012, a Central Library Plan was announced; the plan included closing the nearby Mid-Manhattan Library and Science, Industry and Business Library and turning the Main Branch into a circulating library. Over a million books would have been stored in a New Jersey warehouse shared with Princeton University and Columbia University . The plan was controversial; academics, writers, architects and civic leaders signed
5110-864: The Hebrew language . The division, founded in 1897, contains documents and books from the Astor and Lenox Libraries; the Aguilar Free Library ; and the private collections of Leon Mandelstamm, Meyer Lehren, and Isaac Meyer. The division is named for the Dorot Foundation , who made a formal endowment for the Chief of Division in 1986. The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature contains rare books, first editions, and manuscripts in English and American literature. The collection includes over 35,000 works from 400 individual authors. The collection
5256-616: The Main Branch , the 42nd Street Library , or just the New York Public Library ) 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, has nine divisions. Four stories of the structure are open to the public. The main entrance steps are at Fifth Avenue at its intersection with East 41st Street. As of 2015 ,
5402-469: The Mexico City Metro is prominently identified by a unique icon in addition to its name, because the city had high illiteracy rates at the time the system was designed. Some metro systems, such as those of Naples , Stockholm , Moscow , St. Petersburg , Tashkent , Kyiv , Montreal , Lisbon , Kaohsiung and Prague are famous for their beautiful architecture and public art . The Paris Métro
5548-498: The Mid-Manhattan Library in 1970. During the 1970s, the New York Public Library as a whole experienced financial troubles, which were exacerbated by the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis . As a cost-cutting measure, in 1970, the library decided to close the Main Branch during Sundays and holidays. The library also closed the Main Branch's science and technology division in late 1971 to save money, but private funds allowed
5694-733: The Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, notable people's and entities' papers, publishing archives, social and economics collections, and papers about the New York Public Library's history. The division supplements similar divisions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem , and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center . The Dorot Jewish Division contains documents about Jewish subjects and
5840-659: The Montreal Metro . In Prague Metro , there are two underground stations built as single-vault, Kobylisy and Petřiny . In the Bucharest Metro , Titan station is built in this method. The cavern station is a metro station built directly inside a cavern . Many stations of the Stockholm Metro , especially on the Blue line, were built in man-made caverns; instead of being enclosed in a tunnel, these stations are built to expose
5986-551: The Moscow Metro , typical pylon station are Kievskaya-Koltsevaya , Smolenskaya of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line, Oktyabrskaya-Koltsevaya , and others. In the Saint Petersburg Metro , pylon stations include Ploshchad Lenina , Pushkinskaya , Narvskaya , Gorkovskaya , Moskovskie Vorota , and others. The construction of a single-vault station consists of a single wide and high underground hall, in which there
Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station - Misplaced Pages Continue
6132-546: The Nizhny Novgorod Metro there are four such stations: Park Kultury , Leninskaya , Chkalovskaya and Kanavinskaya . In the Saint Petersburg Metro all single-vault stations are deep underground, for example Ozerki , Chornaya Rechka , Obukhovo , Chkalovskaya , and others. Most of the underground stations of the Washington, D.C.'s Metro system are single-vault designs, as are all the single-line vaulted stations in
6278-537: The Paris Métro , which featured reproductions of the artwork on display in the Louvre. Four stations, namely Fifth Avenue/53rd Street, Astor Place , Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum and 66th Street–Lincoln Center , were selected for the program due to their proximity to cultural institutions, and would be among the first stations part of the MTA's new station refurbishment program, which began in 1982. The Fifth Avenue station
6424-531: The 1960s and 1970s, but in Saint Petersburg , because of the difficult soil conditions and dense building in the centre of the city this was impossible. The Saint Petersburg Metro has only five shallow-depth stations altogether, with three of them having the column design: Avtovo , Leninsky Prospekt , and Prospekt Veteranov . The first of these is less typical, as it is buried at a significant depth, and has only one surface vestibule. A deep column station
6570-493: The 45 second guideline. The reasoning of the second was because the escalators are at capacity, and would become over capacity if the capacity of the staircase between the two levels was increased. As approved, the East Midtown rezoning provides for one Type 1 improvement and five Type 2 improvements at this station. The Type 1 improvement would entail constructing a new street entrance on 53rd Street west of Madison Avenue. One of
6716-757: The American Folk Art Museum". As part of the rezoning of East Midtown , which was approved in 2017, developers were permitted to construct buildings at the maximum permitted floor area ratio if they transferred landmark development rights , rebuilt overbuilt floor area, or made pre-identified improvements to subway stations in the area. The six stations chosen for improvements ( Grand Central–42nd Street , Lexington Avenue/51st Street , 42nd Street–Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue , 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center , Lexington Avenue/59th Street , and Fifth Avenue/53rd Street) were prioritized due to high ridership. Improvement projects include making stations compliant with
6862-421: The Astor and Lenox Libraries. In March 1896, the trustees of the libraries ultimately chose a new site along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, because it was centrally located between the Astor and Lenox Libraries. At the time, it was occupied by the obsolete Croton Reservoir , remnants of which still exist on the library floor. The library's trustees convinced mayor William L. Strong to give them
7008-418: The Fifth Avenue station. These would entail adding or widening stairs between the upper and lower level platform at the east end of the station, and adding or widening the escalators between the upper level platform and the Madison Avenue mezzanine. The main reasoning for the first of the two improvements was because that staircase is over capacity, clearing in 75 seconds during the morning rush hour, greater than
7154-722: The John Peirce Company; and for electric equipment to the Lord Electric Company. Work progressed gradually on the library: the basement was completed by 1903, and the first floor by 1904. However, exterior work was delayed due to the high cost of securing large amounts of marble, as well as frequent labor strikes. When the Norcross Brothers' contract expired in August 1904, the exterior was only halfway completed. During mid-1905, giant columns were put into place and work on
7300-513: The Main Branch continued to grow, and in 1961, the New York Public Library convened a group of six librarians to look for a new facility for the circulating department. The library bought the Arnold Constable & Company department store at 8 East 40th Street, at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 40th Street across from the Main Branch. The Main Branch's circulating collection was moved to
7446-595: 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. The consolidation of
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#17328550344897592-472: The Main Branch occurred during the 1960s. The city government allocated money for the installation of fire sprinklers in the main branch's stacks in 1960. In 1964 contracts were awarded for the installation of a new floor level above the south corridor on the first floor, as well as for replacement of the skylights. By the mid-1960s, the branch contained 7 million volumes and had outgrown its 88 miles (142 km) of stacks. The circulating facilities at
7738-549: The Main Branch. Initially, the Main Branch was opened at 1 p.m. on Sundays and 9 a.m. on all other days, and it closed at 10 p.m. each day. This was to encourage patrons to use the new library. By 1926, the library was heavily patronized, with up to 1,000 people per hour requesting books. The library was most used between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3:30 to 5:50 p.m., and from October through May. The most highly requested books were those for economics and American and English literature, though during World War I geography books were
7884-616: The Mid-Manhattan Branch's collection while that building was closed for renovations. The Mid-Manhattan Branch's collection of pictures was also temporarily relocated to the Main Branch until the circulating library reopened in 2020. In November 2017, the New York Public Library board approved a $ 317 million master plan for the Main Branch, which would be the largest renovation in the branch's history. The plan, designed by architecture firms Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle , would increase publicly available space by 20 percent, add
8030-494: The Mid-Manhattan and Donnell branches, the latter of which had already found a buyer. Nicolai Ouroussoff , former architecture critic for The New York Times , opined that Foster's selection was "one of a string of shrewd decisions by the library that should put our minds at ease". By 2010, while renovations on the Main Branch were ongoing, the New York Public Library had cut back its staff and budget in other branches following
8176-476: The New York City Subway system. These include several pages of the "New York City Transit Authority Graphic Standards Manual", portions of the 1972 New York City Subway map , a visual timeline, and quotations. The station has two entrances/exits. The full-time exit at Fifth Avenue is at the west (railroad south) end of the platform level. Two 94-foot (29 m) long escalators and one staircase go up to
8322-640: The New York Public Library's founders wanted an imposing main branch. While the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art 's Fifth Avenue branch were both located on prominent sites facing Central Park in Manhattan , there was no such site available for a main library building; furthermore, most of the city's libraries were either private collections or small branch libraries. Several sites were considered, including those of
8468-542: The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures, the first-ever permanent exhibition of valuable objects in the library system's collections, at the building in late 2021. The entrance on 40th Street opened to the public in June 2023, and the rest of the renovation, which included a public plaza, a cafe, new restrooms, an elevator, and a visitor center, was completed the next month. In November 2023, while
8614-399: The Type 2 improvements would be the construction of a new staircase between the upper level platform and the mezzanine, as well as a new staircase between the upper and lower level platforms. Developers could also elect to install an elevator between the mezzanine and the two platforms. Another potential improvement would be the installation of two escalators between the upper level platform and
8760-657: The U.S., as well as genealogies from around the world. The division acquired the holdings of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in 2008. The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division was created in 1898. It contains more than 20,000 atlases and 433,000 sheet maps, dating to as early as the 16th century. The collection includes maps on local, regional, national, and global scales as well as city maps , topographic maps , and maps in antiquarian and digitized formats. The Manuscripts and Archives Division comprises over 5,500 collections. These include, 700 cuneiform tablets, 160 illuminated manuscripts from
8906-452: The United States, with shelf space for 3.5 million volumes spread across 375,000 square feet (34,800 m ). The projected final cost was $ 10 million, excluding the cost of the books and the land, representing a fourfold increase over the initial cost estimate of $ 2.5 million. The structure ultimately cost $ 9 million to build, over three times as much as originally projected. Because there were so many visitors during
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#17328550344899052-427: The architecture of "this interesting and important building". In 1971, New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote, "As urban planning, the library still suits the city remarkably well" and praised its "gentle monumentality and knowing humanism". Architectural historian Kate Lemos wrote in 2006 that the library "has held a commanding presence at the bustling corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue as
9198-443: The bedrock in which they are excavated. The Stockholm Metro also has a depot facility built in a cavern system. In the Hong Kong MTR , examples of stations built into caverns include Tai Koo station on Hong Kong Island , Other examples in the city include Sai Wan Ho, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong University and Lei Tung stations. New York Public Library Main Branch The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (commonly known as
9344-441: The books from the Astor and Lenox Libraries. Late in the construction process, a proposal to install a municipal light plant in the basement of the Main Branch was rejected. By late 1910, the library was nearly completed, and officials forecast an opening date of May 1911. Carrère died before the building was opened, and in March 1911, two thousand people viewed his coffin in the library's rotunda. On May 23, 1911, officials held
9490-424: The branch contains an estimated 2.5 million volumes in its stacks . 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 ,
9636-448: The branch's operating hours. Vartan Gregorian took over as president of the New York Public Library in 1981. At the time, many of the Main Branch's interior spaces had been subdivided and extensively modified, with offices in many of the spaces. The main exhibition room had been turned into an accounting office; the reading room's furniture had metal brackets screwed onto them; and there were lights, wires, and ducts hung throughout
9782-400: 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
9928-444: The central and side halls to be differentiated. This is especially characteristic in the non-metro Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon railway station , constructed as a pylon station due to its 80-meter depth, where the platform halls are built to superficially resemble an outdoor train station. Building stations of the pylon type is preferable in difficult geological situations, as such a station is better able to oppose earth pressure. However,
10074-510: The city-owned Independent Subway System (IND), and was planned to stretch between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 178th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, with a stop at Fifth Avenue. The line was first proposed in 1925. Bids for the 53rd Street subway tunnel were received in October 1926, and work started in April 1927. The 53rd Street Tunnel was fully excavated between Queens and Manhattan in January 1929. The Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station opened on August 19, 1933 with
10220-461: The division to reopen in January 1972. The lions in front of the Main Branch's main entrance were restored in 1975. By the end of the decade, the Main Branch was in disrepair and the NYPL trustees were raising money for the research library's continued upkeep. The NYPL system was so short on funds that the research library was only open 43 hours a week until 1979, when Time Inc. and the Grace Krieble Delmas Foundation jointly donated $ 750,000 to extend
10366-431: The downtown stations are decorated traditionally with elements of Chinese culture. On the Tyne and Wear Metro , the station at Newcastle United 's home ground St James' Park is decorated in the clubs famous black and white stripes. Each station of the Red Line and Purple Line subway in Los Angeles was built with different artwork and decorating schemes, such as murals, tile artwork and sculptural benches. Every station of
10512-417: The east (railroad north) end of the station, one of which leads directly next to the basement and entrance of 515 Madison Avenue . This exit has a turnstile bank, customer assistance booth, and two staircases, both of which are built within underground shopping arcades, going up to both eastern corners of Madison Avenue and 53rd Street. Two 94-foot (29 m) long escalators connect the upper-level platform and
10658-619: The end, elected officials in New York City had to save the NYPL from its own trustees." In May 2014, one of the rosettes in the ceiling of the Rose Main Reading Room fell to the floor. The NYPL closed the Rose Main Reading Room and the Public Catalog Room for renovations. The $ 12 million restoration project included restoring the rosettes and supporting them with steel cables, as well as installing LED lamp fixtures. The NYPL commissioned EverGreene Architectural Arts to recreate
10804-452: The entire platform is screened from the track by a wall, typically of glass, with automatic platform-edge doors (PEDs). These open, like elevator doors, only when a train is stopped, and thus eliminate the hazard that a passenger will accidentally fall (or deliberately jump ) onto the tracks and be run over or electrocuted . Control over ventilation of the platform is also improved, allowing it to be heated or cooled without having to do
10950-430: The exterior and most of the interior was not finished. Contractors started painting the main reading room and catalog room in 1908, and began installing furniture the following year. Starting in 1910, around 75 miles (121 km) worth of shelves were installed to hold the collections that were designated for being housed there, with substantial room left for future acquisitions. It took one year to transfer and install
11096-487: The fifteen large windows in the Main Reading Room were blacked out, though they were later uncovered. In the following years, the Main Reading Room became neglected: broken lighting fixtures were not replaced, and the room's windows were never cleaned. Unlike during World War I, war-related books at the Main Branch did not become popular during World War II. A room for members of the United States Armed Forces
11242-415: The firm was not the lowest bidder. After a private ceremony to mark the start of construction was held in August 1902, a ceremonial cornerstone was laid on November 10, 1902. The cornerstone contained a box of artifacts from the library and the city. The architects awarded the contract for the library's stacks to Snead & Company ; for drainage and plumbing to M. J. O'Brien; for interior finishes to
11388-432: The first Gutenberg Bible to be brought to the U.S., the first Native American language Bible, and the first Bible created in the U.S. In addition, it includes first editions and copies from notable writers, including William Shakespeare , copies of The Pilgrim's Progress printed before 1700, Voltaire 's entire work, and Walt Whitman 's personal copies of his own work. The division houses rare artifacts as well, such as
11534-540: The first book printed in North America and the first English-language book printed in the U.S. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs was created by a gift of the Wallach family in 1987. The collection includes over one million works of art as well as 700,000 monographs and periodicals . The New York Public Library's Main Branch measures 390 feet (120 m) on its north–south axis by 270 feet (82 m) on its west–east axis. The library
11680-457: The first week of the Main Branch's opening, the New York Public Library's directors initially did not count the number of visitors, but guessed that 250,000 patrons were accommodated during the first week. The construction of the Main Branch, along with that of the nearby Grand Central Terminal , helped to revitalize Bryant Park. The Main Branch came to be regarded as an architectural landmark. As early as 1911, Harper's Monthly magazine praised
11826-449: The former USSR there is currently only one such station: Arsenalna in Kyiv . In Jerusalem, two planned underground heavy rail stations, Jerusalem–Central and Jerusalem–Khan , will be built this way. In Moscow, there were such stations, but they have since been rebuilt: Lubyanka and Chistiye Prudy are now ordinary pylon stations, and Paveletskaya-Radialnaya is now a column station. In
11972-557: The future library building, which was exhibited at New York City Hall in 1900. Whether John Mervin Carrère or Thomas S. Hastings contributed more to the design is in dispute, but both architects are honored with busts located at the bottoms of each of Astor Hall's two staircases. In a later interview with The New York Times , Carrère stated that the library would contain "twenty-five or thirty different rooms", each with their own specialty; "eighty-three miles of books" in its stacks ; and
12118-423: The increased demand for books, new shelves were installed in the stockrooms and the cellars by the 1920s to accommodate the expanded stacks. However, this still proved to be insufficient. The New York Public Library announced an expansion of the Main Branch in 1928. Thomas Hastings prepared plans for new wings near the north and south sides of the structure, which would extend eastward toward Fifth Avenue, as well as
12264-405: The length of the stacks in the Main Branch. The space could accommodate 3.2 million books and a half-million reels of microfilm. The new stacks were connected to the Main Branch via a tunnel measuring 62 ft (19 m) or 120 ft (37 m) long. Once the underground facilities were completed, Bryant Park was completely rebuilt, with 2.5 or 6 feet (0.76 or 1.83 m) of earth between
12410-447: The level of the train tracks. The physical, visual and economic impact of the station and its operations will be greater. Planners will often take metro lines or parts of lines at or above ground where urban density decreases, extending the system further for less cost. Metros are most commonly used in urban cities, with great populations. Alternatively, a preexisting railway land corridor is re-purposed for rapid transit. At street level
12556-442: The library asked the city to take over responsibility for the Main Branch's circulating and children's libraries. As part of the modernization of the Main Branch, newly delivered books started being processed in that building, rather than at various circulation branch libraries. The rear of the library's main hall was partitioned off in 1950, creating a bursar's office measuring 42 by 13 ft (12.8 by 4.0 m). Minor repairs at
12702-403: The library was adding 150,000 volumes to its collections annually, which could not fit within the stacks of the existing building. In the late 1980s, the New York Public Library decided to expand the Main Branch's stacks to the west, underneath Bryant Park. The project was originally estimated to cost $ 21.6 million and would be the largest expansion project in the Main Branch's history. It
12848-411: The library was closed for Thanksgiving , protestors demonstrating for Palestine caused $ 75,000 in damage to the facade, amid a budget crisis for the NYPL. There are nine divisions at the New York Public Library's Main Branch, of which eight are special collections . The General Research Division is the main division of the Main Branch and the only one that is not a special collection. The division
12994-405: The library's trustees to donate their collections of rare English and American literature. After Henry died, the collection was dedicated in his memory. The Berg Reading Room was formally dedicated in October 1940. During the 1930s, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers helped maintain the Main Branch. Their tasks included upgrading the heating, ventilation, and lighting systems; refitting
13140-460: The library, with two rounds. The rules of the competition's first round were never published, but they were used as the basis for later design competitions. Entrants submitted 88 designs, of which 12 were selected for a semi-finalist round and six went on to a finalist round. About a third of the designs, 29 in total, followed the same design principles outlined in Billings's original sketch. Each of
13286-409: The limited number of narrow passages limits the throughput between the halls. The pylon station was the earliest type of deep underground station. One variation is the so-called London-style station. In such stations the central hall is reduced to the size of an anteroom, leading to the inclined walkway or elevators. In some cases the anteroom is also the base of the escalators. In the countries of
13432-408: The logo of the metro company marks the entrances/exits of the station. Usually, signage shows the name of the station and describes the facilities of the station and the system it serves. Often there are several entrances for one station, saving pedestrians from needing to cross a street and reducing crowding. A metro station typically provides ticket vending and ticket validating systems. The station
13578-457: The long axis of the station. Stations can be double-span with a single row of columns, triple-span with two rows of columns, or multi-span. The typical shallow column station in Russia is triple-span, assembled from concrete and steel, and is from 102 to 164 metres in length with a column spacing of 4–6 m. Along with the typical stations, there are also specially built stations. For example, one of
13724-433: The mezzanine. The part-time exit is only open on weekdays and Saturdays until 9:45 p.m. The street-level gates to the station were owned by private companies who formerly closed them at 9 p.m. However, MTA workers did not close the platform-level gates until 10 p.m. During the hour in between the two gates' closures, exiting passengers often became trapped after passing through the turnstiles, forcing them to go back into
13870-446: The mezzanine. The proposed Type 2 improvements also include the construction of a new mezzanine under 53rd Street with a new fare control area to accommodate the new entrance west of Madison Avenue and a new access core. This access core would be constructed in a separate project and would provide access between the new entrance and the platforms, accommodating new staircases, an elevator and escalators. These improvements would be funded by
14016-448: The most demanded because of the ongoing war. It was estimated that 4 million people per year used the Main Branch in 1928, up from 2 million in 1918 and 3 million in 1926. There were 1.3 million books requested by nearly 600,000 people through call slips in 1927. By 1934, though annual patronage held steady at 4 million visitors, the Main Branch had 3.61 million volumes in its collection. Due to
14162-511: The most votes from the jury, nearly withdrew from the competition. All of the finalist designs were in the Beaux-Arts style. Ultimately, in November 1897, the relatively unknown firm of Carrère and Hastings was selected to design and construct the new library. The jury named the firm of Howard & Cauldwell and McKim, Mead, & White as runners-up. Carrère and Hastings created a model for
14308-447: The mural in the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, which had been severely damaged during its 105-year history. The NYPL also replaced its historic chain-and-lift book conveyor system with a new delivery system using "book trains" . The restored Rose Main Reading Room and Bill Blass Public Catalog Room reopened on October 5, 2016. Starting in August 2017, the Main Branch hosted an interim circulating library at 42nd Street, housing part of
14454-894: The neighborhood grew up around it". The Main Branch also took on importance as a major research center. Norbert Pearlroth , who served as a researcher for the Ripley's Believe It or Not! book series, perused an estimated 7,000 books annually from 1923 to 1975. Other patrons included First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ; writers Alfred Kazin , Norman Mailer , Frank McCourt , John Updike , Cecil Beaton , Isaac Bashevis Singer , and E. L. Doctorow ; actors Helen Hayes , Marlene Dietrich , Lillian Gish , Diana Rigg , and Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco; playwright Somerset Maugham ; film producer Francis Ford Coppola ; journalists Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and Tom Wolfe ; and boxer Joe Frazier . The Main Branch
14600-617: The new library, though controversial for its time, formed the basis of the Main Branch. Once the Main Branch was opened, the Astor and Lenox Libraries were planned to close, and their functions were planned to be merged into that of the Main Branch. In May 1897, the New York State Legislature passed a bill allowing the site of the Croton Reservoir to be used for a public library building. The Society of Beaux-Arts Architects hosted an architectural design competition for
14746-464: The objections of mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck , who expressed concerns that the city's finances were unstable. As a result, the planned library was delayed for a year. The Board of Estimate authorized a bond measure of $ 500,000 in May 1899. The next month, contractor Eugene Lentilhon started excavating the Croton Reservoir, and workers began digging through the reservoir's 25-foot-thick (7.6 m) wall. After spending seven weeks tunneling through
14892-661: The opening of the IND Queens Boulevard Line to Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Service was initially provided by E trains running via the IND Eighth Avenue Line. On December 15, 1940, the IND Sixth Avenue Line opened between West Fourth Street–Washington Square and 59th Street–Columbus Circle . On this date, F trains began using this station, diverging west of the station onto the Sixth Avenue Line. In 1959,
15038-452: The outer two keystones. The archways lead to the first floor of the structure, which is one story above ground level. The arches contain bronze doors with marble frames and triangular pediments. Hastings had drawn up a new design for the portico in 1921, but this was never constructed. George Grey Barnard also designed pediments for sculptures to be installed above the main entrance, representing "Life" and "Painting and Sculpture". When
15184-409: The outside area occupied by the station, allowing vehicles and pedestrians to continue using the ground-level area in a similar way as before the station's construction. This is especially important where the station is serving high-density urban precincts, where ground-level spaces are already heavily utilised. In other cases, a station may be elevated above a road, or at ground level depending on
15330-399: The park surface and the storage facility's ceiling. The extension was opened in September 1991 at a cost of $ 24 million; however, it only included one of two planned levels of stacks. Bryant Park was reopened in mid-1992 after a three-year renovation. The Catalog Room was renamed in 1994 for fashion designer Bill Blass , who gave $ 10 million to the NYPL. The Main Reading Room
15476-504: The periodical room, was completed in 1983 with a $ 20 million gift from Reader's Digest editor DeWitt Wallace . The exhibition room reopened in May 1984 and was renamed the Gottesman Exhibition Hall. The Catalog Room was restored starting in 1983. Ten million catalog cards, many of which were tattered, were replaced with photocopies that had been created over six years at a cost of $ 3.3 million. In addition, room 80
15622-436: The primary elevation of the building. A terrace wraps along the Fifth Avenue elevation. The terrace is 90 feet (27 m) deep and contains a granite balustrade. The present design of the terrace dates to 1988, when it was resurfaced with granite, bluestone, and cobblestones. The terrace contains movable chairs and tables. Along the eastern edge of the terrace are two rows of Japanese locust trees. The Fifth Avenue entrance
15768-468: The renovation and expansion of the building, and the library announced in April 2008 that the main branch building would be renamed in his honor. As a condition of the gift, Schwarzman's name had to be displayed at each public entrance. Later that year, British architect Norman Foster was chosen to design the Main Branch's renovation. To pay for the renovations, the New York Public Library was attempting to sell
15914-628: The renovation came from a $ 66 million grant that the Urban Mass Transportation Administration had given to the New York City Transit Authority in 1982. In addition, Fisher Brothers (the developers of the nearby Park Avenue Plaza office building) had contributed $ 100,000 to a special fund for improvements to the Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station. Design work was completed in 1983. The renovation
16060-477: The renovation. The Reading Room reopened on November 16, 1998. The same year, the New York State government allocated funding for the Main Branch to install computers and other electronic devices. The Reading Room received new workstations, and the space was also redecorated to accommodate patrons' laptops. The bungalow in the Library's South Court was taken apart the same year. A four-story glass structure
16206-453: The reservoir site, after they gave him studies showing that the size of New York City's library collection lagged behind those of many other cities. Dr. John Shaw Billings, who was named the first director of the New York Public Library, had created an early sketch for a massive reading room on top of seven floors of book-stacks, combined with the fastest system for getting books into the hands of those who requested to read them. His design for
16352-438: The restoration of the main exhibition room, which was redesigned by Davis Brody and Cavaglieri. Workers erected a temporary construction fence around the library's terraces in 1982. As part of a greater renovation of Bryant Park, Laurie Olin and Davis Brody redesigned the terraces, while Hugh Hardy redesigned the kiosks within the terraces. Several rooms were restored as part of the plan. The first space to be renovated,
16498-425: The roof was begun; the roof was finished by December 1906. The remaining contracts, totaling $ 1.2 million, concerned the installation of furnishings in the interior. The interior and exterior were largely constructed simultaneously. The building's exterior was mostly done by the end of 1907. The pace of construction was generally sluggish; in 1906, an official for the New York Public Library stated that some of
16644-481: The same for the tunnels. The doors add cost and complexity to the system, and trains may have to approach the station more slowly so they can stop in accurate alignment with them. Metro stations, more so than railway and bus stations, often have a characteristic artistic design that can identify each stop. Some have sculptures or frescoes. For example, London's Baker Street station is adorned with tiles depicting Sherlock Holmes . The tunnel for Paris' Concorde station
16790-407: The sculptures were erected in 1915, he unsuccessfully sued the installers for $ 50,000 because they did not fit with his vision. On either side of the Fifth Avenue entrance pavilion, there are alcoves with sculptures of figures inside them, followed by five bays of windows. Each bay contains arched windows on the first floor and rectangular windows on the second floor, above which is an attic with
16936-428: The semifinalist designs were required to include specific architectural features, including limestone walls; a central delivery desk; reading rooms with large windows; and stacks illuminated by sunlight. The six finalists were selected by a jury composed of library trustees and architects. The jury relaxed the requirement that the proposals adhere to a specific floor plan after McKim, Mead & White , which had received
17082-479: The space. Gregorian organized events to raise money for the library, which helped raise funds for the cleaning of the facade and the renovation of the lobby, roof, and lighting system. Architectural firm Davis Brody & Associates , architect Giorgio Cavaglieri , and architectural consultant Arthur Rosenblatt devised a master plan for the library. Before the master plan was implemented, the D. S. and R. H. Gottesman Foundation gave $ 1.25 million in December 1981 for
17228-768: The spans may be replaced with a monolithic vault (as in the Moskovskaya station of the Samara Metro or Sibirskaya of the Novosibirsk Metro ). In some cases, one of the rows of columns may be replaced with a load-bearing wall. Such a dual hall, one-span station, Kashirskaya , was constructed to provide a convenient cross-platform transfer. Recently, stations have appeared with monolithic concrete and steel instead of assembled pieces, as Ploshchad Tukaya in Kazan . The typical shallow column station has two vestibules at both ends of
17374-474: The station at all times, while the M train serves the station on weekdays during the day. The next station to the north is Lexington Avenue–53rd Street , while the next station to the south is 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center for M trains and Seventh Avenue for E trains. The upper level, built in a tube design, is 59 feet (18 m) below street level while the lower level is 80 feet (24 m) below. Staircases connect each level at both ends. There
17520-470: The station, most often combined with below-street crossings. For many metro systems outside Russia, the typical column station is a two-span station with metal columns, as in New York City, Berlin, and others. In Chicago, underground stations of the Chicago 'L' are three-span stations if constructed with a centre platform. In the Moscow Metro , approximately half of the stations are of shallow depth, built in
17666-450: The station. Architectural writer Paul Goldberger criticized the new design, saying: "Despite the good, there is little to relate that station as a work of design either to the architecture of the surrounding neighborhood or to the tradition of the New York subway." In 1996, Ralph Fasanella 's 1950 painting "Subway Riders" was installed outside fare control in the full-time mezzanine . It
17812-401: The station. This is resolved with elevators, taking a number of people from street level to the unpaid ticketing area, and then from the paid area to the platform. In addition, there will be stringent requirements for emergencies, with backup lighting , emergency exits and alarm systems installed and maintained. Stations are a critical part of the evacuation route for passengers escaping from
17958-513: The subway system. That same year, the MTA announced the creation of its Culture Stations program to install public art in the subway. The Culture Stations program was started to deter graffiti, and was inspired by legislation in the New York City Council that mandated that 1% of the cost of constructing public buildings be used for art. The program was modelled on the Louvre – Rivoli station on
18104-467: The subway, either paying another fare or jumping the turnstiles. After the MTA was informed of the issue in 2013, it arranged with the building owners to keep the exit open until 9:45 p.m. and the signs in the station were updated accordingly. The Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station is within three blocks of numerous notable locations. Places to the south include: Places to the north include: Metro station A metro station or subway station
18250-474: The summer. The reading room was meant to improve the morale of readers during the Great Depression , and it operated until 1943, when it closed down due to a shortage of librarians. In 1936, library trustee George F. Baker gave the Main Branch forty issues of the New-York Gazette from the 18th century, which had not been preserved anywhere else. In 1937, the doctors Albert and Henry Berg made an offer to
18396-421: The top of the structure's exterior. The massing of the library building was intended to highlight its primary public spaces. There is a gable roof above the public catalog room, which is on axis with the main entrance on Fifth Avenue, as well as a hip roof above the main reading room, which runs north–south near the western end of the building. The Main Branch faces Fifth Avenue to the east; this comprises
18542-529: The train carriages. Access from the street to ticketing and the train platform is provided by stairs , concourses , escalators , elevators and tunnels. The station will be designed to minimise overcrowding and improve flow, sometimes by designating tunnels as one way. Permanent or temporary barriers may be used to manage crowds. Some metro stations have direct connections to important nearby buildings (see underground city ). Most jurisdictions mandate that people with disabilities must have unassisted use of
18688-426: The treads on the branch's marble staircases; painting the bookshelves, walls, ceilings, and masonry; and general upkeep. The WPA allocated $ 2.5 million for the building's maintenance. In January 1936, it was announced that the Main Branch's roof would be renovated as part of a seven-month WPA project. In 1942, the main exhibition room was converted into office space and partitioned off. During World War II,
18834-492: The upper level, while northbound trains to Queens use the lower level. The station was renovated in the 1980s as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority 's Culture Stations program and was rebuilt with displays showing information about the cultural institutions in the area. Further improvements to the station were proposed in the 2010s. The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first built by
18980-416: The wall, Lentilhon determined that the floor of the reservoir could only be demolished using dynamite. Work on the foundation commenced in May 1900, and much of the Croton Reservoir had been excavated by 1901. In November 1900, work was hindered by a water main break that partly flooded the old reservoir. Norcross Brothers received the general contract, although this was initially controversial because
19126-630: The white marble and pollution and moisture were corroding the ornamental statuary. In December 2005, the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division space, with richly carved wood, marble, and metalwork, was restored. In 2007, the library announced that it would undertake a three-year, $ 50 million renovation of the building exterior, which had suffered damage from weathering and automobile exhaust. The marble structure and its sculptural elements were to be cleaned; three thousand cracks were to be repaired; and various components would be restored. All of
19272-566: The work was scheduled to be completed by the centennial in 2011. Library director Paul LeClerc said in 2007 that "my ambition is for this to be the building you simply must see in New York at nighttime because it is so beautiful and it is so important." By late 2007, library officials had not yet decided whether to try to restore damaged sculptural elements or just clean and "stabilize" them. Cleaning would be done either with lasers or by applying poultices and peeling them off. The businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman donated $ 100 million toward
19418-437: Was a publicity stunt, and the book was not in the Main Branch's collection at the time. The first item actually delivered was N. I. Grot's Nravstvennye idealy nashego vremeni ("Ethical Ideas of Our Time"), a study of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy . The reader filed his slip at 9:08 a.m. and received his book seven minutes later. The Beaux-Arts Main Branch was the largest marble structure up to that time in
19564-524: Was also used for major works and invention. Edwin Land conducted research at the building for his later invention, the Land Camera , while Chester Carlson invented Xerox photocopiers after researching photoconductivity and electrostatics at the library. During World War II , American soldiers decoded a Japanese cipher based on a Mexican phone book whose last remaining copy among Allied nations existed at
19710-487: Was approved by the city's Art Commission in January 1987, and construction on the stacks started in July 1988. The expansion required that Bryant Park be closed to the public and then excavated, but because the park had grown dilapidated over the years, the stack-expansion project was seen as an opportunity to rebuild the park. The library added more than 120,000 square feet (11,000 m ) of storage space and 84 miles (135 km) of bookshelves under Bryant Park, doubling
19856-568: Was chosen for its proximity to five museums, the New York Public Library Main Branch , and major corporations. The stations in the Culture Stations program were to be completed by making use of both private and public funding. This station was redesigned by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects. The modernization project was opened to bidders on November 9, 1982, and was expected to cost between $ 4 and $ 6 million. Some funding for
20002-427: Was closed in July 1997 for renovations designed by Davis Brody Bond. The restoration entailed cleaning and repainting the ceiling, cleaning the windows, refinishing the wood, and removing partitions within the room. Workers also replaced desk lamps and installed energy-efficient window panes. The space was renamed the Rose Main Reading Room, after the children of a benefactor who had given $ 15 million toward
20148-434: Was created in 1940 with a donation from Albert Berg in memory of his brother Henry, and was formally endowed in 1941. The initial collection comprised 3,500 books and pamphlets created by over 100 authors. An additional 15,000 works came from Owen D. Young , who donated his private collection to the library in 1941. The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle is a collection of around 25,000 works from
20294-579: Was erected on the site of the South Court, an enclosed courtyard on the Main Branch's south side, starting in the late 1990s. The structure cost $ 22.2 million and included a floor area of 42,220 square feet (3,922 m ). Opened in 2002, the South Court structure was the first permanent above-ground addition to the Main Branch since its opening. The pop-up reading room in Bryant Park was re-established in summer 2003. The "room" contained 700 books and 300 periodicals. By 2004, streaks were already blackening
20440-448: Was opened in 1926 with a ceremony at the Main Branch. The marble on the library building is about three feet thick, and the structure is composed entirely of Vermont marble and brick. Most of the exterior of the building is made of white Vermont marble, which includes both perpendicular and parallel cuts. The lowest section of the walls is made of granite, and there are also bronze windows, doors, grilles, and fixtures. Tennessee marble
20586-445: Was opened in 1943. In 1944, the New York Public Library proposed another expansion plan. The stacks' capacity would be increased to 3 million books, and the circulating library in the Main Branch would be moved to a new 53rd Street Library . The circulating library at the Main Branch was ultimately kept for the time being, though its single room soon became insufficient to host all of the circulating volumes. Subsequently, in 1949,
20732-671: Was originally scheduled to be complete in December 1984 but was pushed back by two years. As part of the renovation, 400-foot-long (120 m) rows of light boxes containing displays showing information about objects in nearby museums such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), as well as points of interest in the vicinity, were installed on each platform. The light boxes were designed by the project's graphic designers, Pentagram . The walls adjacent to each platform were redecorated with red and white tiles. In addition, to prevent water seepage and to reduce noise, double layered metal linings were installed in
20878-423: Was put into place at the Madison Avenue entrance, replacing one of the 2-foot-wide escalators. The entire project cost $ 1.2 million. As part of the project, other improvements were made: the lighting at the station was replaced with fluorescent lighting, and the stairways at the station were moved. In 1981, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in
21024-619: Was renovated into a lecture hall called the Celeste Bartos Forum in 1987. Offices were relocated to former storage rooms on the ground level. Other divisions were added to the Main Branch during the 1980s, such as the Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle in 1986, and the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs in 1987. The terraces on Fifth Avenue reopened in 1988 after they were restored. Meanwhile,
21170-573: Was the first oil painting installed in a subway station in New York City. Fasanella had donated it to the American Folk Art Museum on the condition that it stay permanently displayed in the subway under the MTA Arts & Design program, saying, "I'd rather have people see this painting in the subway than any museum." In 2014, "Subway Riders" was temporarily removed and placed in a traveling exhibition called "Self Taught Genius: Treasures From
21316-421: Was used for the library's flagpole pedestals, seats, and lion sculptures. During construction, the builders conducted quality checks on the marble, and 65 percent of the marble quarried for the Main Branch was rejected and used in other buildings such as Harvard Medical School . The exterior is composed of 20,000 blocks of stone, each of which is numbered. An elaborate cornice with sculpted figures wraps around
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