A Guide to Historic New York City Neighborhoods H ISTORIC P UBLIC L IBRARIES CITYWIDE The Historic Districts Council is New York’s citywide advocate for historic buildings and neighborhoods. The Six to Celebrate program annually identifies six historic New York City neighborhoods that merit preservation as priorities for HDC’s advocacy and consultation over a yearlong period. The six, chosen from applications submitted by community organizations, are selected on the basis of the architectural and historic merit of the area, the level of threat to the neighborhood, the strength and willingness of the local advocates, and the potential for HDC’s preservation support to be meaningful. HDC works with these neighborhood partners to set and reach preservation goals through strategic planning, advocacy, outreach, programs and publicity. The core belief of the Historic Districts Council is that preservation and enhancement of New York City’s historic resources—its neighborhoods, buildings, parks and public spaces— are central to the continued success of the city. The Historic Districts Council works to ensure the preservation of these resources and uphold the New York City Landmarks Law and to further the preservation ethic. This mission is accomplished through ongoing programs of assistance to more than 500 community and neighborhood groups and through public-policy initiatives, publications, educational outreach and sponsorship of community events. Support is provided in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by City Councilmembers Margaret Chin, Inez Dickens, Matthieu Eugene, Daniel Garodnick, Vincent Gentile, Corey Johnson, Ben Kallos, Stephen Levin, Mark Levine, and Rosie Mendez. 232 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10003 tel 212-614-9107 fax 212-614-9127 e-mail [email protected] www.hdc.org 6tocelebrate.org Copyright © 2015 by Historic Districts Council HISTORIC PUBLIC LIBRARIES New York City has three public library systems: the New York Public Library (in Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island), the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Borough Public Library. The reason for these independent systems was due to their origins prior to the 1898 consolidation of the five boroughs. The City of New York’s first free circulating library was established in 1878, even though multiple bills were passed by the New York Legislature for such a public service beginning in the 1830s. Over those decades, private libraries served as research facilities for scholars and students, but none were open to the general public. In 1880, the New York Free Circulating Library (NYFCL) was established, operating out of several rooms at 36 Bond Street and funded by private donors. The NYFCL was formally incorporated in 1884, and its first building opened at 135 Second Avenue (site 1). Between 1884 and 1901, 11 branches were built, consisting of 1.6 million volumes. In 1901, steel baron Andrew Carnegie retired and devoted his energy and wealth to the development of libraries throughout the English-speaking world, including New York City. This would forever change the institution. The New York Public Library (NYPL) was formed in 1895 with the consolidation of three private corporations: the Astor Library (founded by John Jacob Astor in 1849), the Lenox Library (founded by James Lenox in 1870) and The Tilden Trust (a fund established in 1886 by former New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden). The NYFCL also joined this consolidation in 1901 in order to benefit from Carnegie’s gift of $5.2 million for 67 library branches to be built between 1901 and 1929 (56 are still standing). Carnegie’s only stipulation was that the city acquire the sites and establish building maintenance plans. To design the buildings, the NYPL organized a committee of architects: Charles F. McKim, Walter Cook and John M. Carrère. In order to stylistically link the branches and save money, the committee decided on a uniform scale, interior layout, character and materials palette for the buildings. Construction for the main branch, a grand building in the heart of Manhattan, began in 1901. The NYPL became and remains one of the leading research institutions in the world. Queens’ first public library was established in Flushing in 1858, and became a free circulating library in 1869. In 1901, the borough’s independent libraries merged to become the Queens Borough Library, and were eventually housed in Carnegie- funded buildings. The system acquired its current name, the Queens Borough Public Library (QBPL), in 1907. Brooklyn’s first free public library was that of the Pratt Institute, which opened in 1888. In 1892, the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) was created through state legislation, and in 1901, Carnegie signed a contract for the construction of libraries in Brooklyn. Both the QBPL and the BPL were established as independent corporations with trustees appointed by the mayor and civil service staff. In the broad sense, New York City’s library systems are one of its finest resources. In the local sense, its branches function as community anchors, both for the services they provide and for their architectural contributions to each neighborhood’s sense of place. While this brochure focuses on the origins of the city’s public library systems and offers a glimpse at some of its early extant branches, there are over 200 public libraries across the five boroughs, as well as private and institutional libraries that are also well worth visiting. 1 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Public Libraries MANHATTAN In the 1840s, 1 the East Village (then part of the Lower East Side) OTTENDORFER LIBRARY became known as NYPL “Kleindeutschland” Second Avenue (Little Germany) (William Schickel, 1883-84) for its large – NYC IL, NYC INL, NR-P population of German immigrants. This building was the first branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, donated by German-American philanthropists Anna and Oswald Ottendorfer. The Ottendorfer Library, along with the adjacent German Dispensary (later renamed the Stuyvesant Polyclinic), was intended to uplift the minds and bodies of the Ottendorfers’ fellow German-Americans. Half of the library’s initial 8,000 volumes were in German, and much of its staff spoke German. In addition to its historical significance to the city’s library system, the library, as well as the adjacent dispensary, is also architecturally magnificent. The buildings include Italian Renaissance Revival and Queen Anne-style details, with red brick, terra-cotta trim, arched windows and symbolic ornament: urns and books on the library and busts of famous physicians and scientists on the dispensary. 2 MAIN BRANCH NYPL Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street (Carrère & Hastings, 1901-11, master plan and restoration: Davis Brody Bond, 1980-2000; South Court addition: Davis The NYPL’s Main Branch is one of the city’s Brody Bond, 2000-02; Children’s Center most important civic monuments and most at 42nd Street: Gensler Architects, 2008) impressive works of architecture. Along with – NYC IL, NYC INL, NHL Bryant Park, it is located on the site of the old Croton Distributing Reservoir, once the city’s main source of fresh water. The reservoir’s 50-foot high, 25-foot thick walls were demolished in the 1890s, just as plans were underway for a new central library. Some of the reservoir’s foundations can still be found in the library’s South Court. In 2000- 02, a new wing was added to this part of the building and the architects intentionally exposed the foundation wall as a record of the site’s history. Situated on the eastern end of two city blocks, the library’s marble façades and lavish interiors are a 2 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Public Libraries masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style. The firm of Carrère & Hastings, fairly unknown at the time, was chosen to design the building. Their success led to commissions for 14 Carnegie- funded branches across the city (see sites 8, 10, 11 and 12), more than any other firm. The building’s front is set back from Fifth Avenue by a grand staircase and terrace that give the façade added grandeur and perspective. The terrace’s two famous lion statues were sculpted by Edward Clark Potter and were originally named “Leo Astor” and “Leo Lenox” after the library’s founders. During the Great Depression, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia nicknamed them “Patience” and “Fortitude.” The main entrance is housed within a triple-arched portico supported by coupled Corinthian columns. The rear, or west façade, expresses and honors the function of the building. Its series of full-height, vertical rows of windows both represent and give light to the seven floors of book stacks within. The steel stacks once held 88 miles of books, which have since been moved offsite. However, the stacks also function as structural support for the building, providing a powerful symbolism to the building’s construction. On all four façades, pedimented pavilions lend visual interest and elegance. When it was completed in 1911, the library bore the distinction of being the largest marble structure in the United States. Formerly known as the Humanities and Social Sciences Library and the Center for Humanities, the building was renamed the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in 2008 to honor a major gift to the institution. The library functions as a reference, rather than a circulating library, and, as such, includes magnificent interior reading rooms, including the Rose Main Reading Room. This grand space, with arched windows and a fresco ceiling, is one of the most revered interior public spaces in Manhattan. In the 1980s, the institution undertook a major restoration of many of the library’s interior spaces and added two levels of stacks beneath Bryant Park.