NYPL Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library

 library, wifi hotspot, interesting place, 1915_construction

6-story department store completed in 1915. Designed by T. Joseph Bartley for Frederick W. Vanderbilt as a store, it is clad in limestone. The building served as the flagship for Arnold Constable & Co. from 1915-1975. Constable had moved from a prior space that spanned from Broadway to 5th Avenue on 19th Street.

The north facade on 40th Street is nine bays wide, each with paired windows, while the west facade on the avenue spans four bays - three with three windows each, and the south bay with four narrower windows. A narrow wing also extends through the block to 39th Street. The wide piers are paneled are sit on granite bases, with an entrance in the 4th bay from the east in the north facade, and the main entrance with two revolving doors in the 2nd bay from the north on the avenue. This entrance is framed by dark-green iron pillars, with an entablature with a band reading "THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY" and a cornice. All the other bays have paneled stone spandrels between the 1st & 2nd floors. The 2nd-floor windows have stone sills and black metal framing dividing them, and also have transoms - except for above the main entrance, where the three windows are separated by wider stone pilasters, with console brackets between the transoms. A broad entablature with cornice caps the 2nd floor.

The 3rd-5th floors again have paneled piers organizing the bays, and stone pilasters between each window.. They also have paneled stone spandrels, and the 5th floor is topped by another cornice. The top floor matches those below it, and is crowned by a black metal roof cornice on both facades, with rows of brackets with dentils between them.

The small 6-story facade of the wing on 39th Street is clad in buff-colored brick above a 2-story base framed by paneled limestone piers. Like the main facades, the piers sit on granite bases. The ground floor is clad in tan brick and has two service entrances with metal doors. Above them is a black iron band reading "THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY", and a panel with a ornamental screen of black wrought-iron broken in the center by an iron round-arch with decorative infill. Above tall paneled stone spandrels, the 2nd floor has triple-windows with transoms. The upper floors, above a cornice, each have three windows, slightly wider in the center. The brick end piers are paneled, as are the brick spandrels between floors. The facade is capped by a simple roof cornice. The western elevation is a plain white-painted brick wall.

The Mid-Manhattan branch of the library system was established in 1970. The building was fully renovated on the interior in 2016-18, along with the landmarked main building on block to the north at Bryant Park. It was renamed the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library after a $55mil grant from the organization to fund renovations. The new interior was designed in 2017 by Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners. It also features one of the only rooftop terraces open to the public at no charge in New York City.

www.nypl.org/locations/mid-manhattan-library
www.nytimes.com/1975/02/11/archives/arnold-constable-cl...
www.boweryboyshistory.com/2014/06/the-link-between-ladi...
webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/images/item.htm?id=http://purl...
snflibraryeventspace.splashthat.com/



www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU-jEIVOOWE&ab_channel=TheNewYo...