NYU Elmer Holmes Bobst Library (New York City, New York)

 library, interesting place, Modern (architecture)

12-story, red sandstone-faced building housing the main library in the NYU libraries system, completed in 1972. Designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, its scarcity of windows give at a monolithic appearance. The windows it does have are arranged into narrow vertical recessed bays. The sandstone piers are rounded inward, forming concave surfaces. Its interior inlaid marble floor was based on Palladio's design for the 17th century church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.

The library is the largest library at NYU, and one of the largest academic libraries in the United States. The 425,000 sq ft building is located across from the southeast corner of Washington Square Park, and is named after its benefactor, Elmer Holmes Bobst who gave $11 million donation ($62 million today) towards its ultimate completion and opening on September 12, 1973. Mr. Bobst was a leading figure in pharmaceuticals, public health, philanthropy, and a confidant of Richard Nixon. He was also a long time trustee at New York University.

The construction was heavily impinged due to a shortage of workers while the World Trade Center was being built. Because the library was built with federal money, it required to use the least expensive contractor possible. When there would have been 20, 30, or 50 people working on the library at a time, there were two. Additionally, Phillip Johnson prescribed the use of red sandstone for the outside of the library, in order to blend with the surrounding red brick buildings. The university found that sandstone in a quarry in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. When the building was about halfway complete, the quarry went bankrupt so NYU had to buy the quarry and run it until the stone had been completed.

The Bobst Library is visited by more than 6,500 users per day, and circulates almost one million books annually; houses more than 3.7 million volumes, 58 thousand serial titles, and over 5.4 million microforms. The Avery Fisher Center for Music and Media, one of the world’s largest academic media centers, has over 100 audio and video viewing carrels and 3 media-enhanced classrooms; students and researchers use more than 100,000 audio and video recordings per year.

In 2023, part of the ground floor was renovated to a new interior by Billie Tsien.

library.nyu.edu
nyu.edu/academics/libraries/elmer-holmes-bobstlibrary.h...
emporis.com/building/bobstlibrary-newyorkcity-ny-usa
nyunews.com/2016/02/29/the-names-behind-nyus-buildings/
www.thevillager.com/2003/10/n-y-u-librarys-grand-design...