Brooklyn Public Library - Central Branch

 library, Streamline Moderne (architecture), interesting place, 1920_construction, historic remains

The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), is the public library system of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is the fifth largest public library system in the United States, housed in a landmark building designed c. 1911 by Raymond F. Almirall in the Beaux Arts style with metalwork by Thomas Hudson Jones and C. Paul Jennewein.

Githens & Keally rebuilt the entire building in 1935 in the Art Moderne style. The new design was completed in 1941 and featured an enormous central entrance glittered with gold surrounded by a blank, unadorned limestone facade. Above the entranceway doors are fifteen squares with gilded reliefs picturing American literary figures including Edgar Allen Poe's Raven, Moby Dick, and Tom Sawyer. The gigantic columns on either side of the entrance are marked with gold silhouettes depicting the evolution of arts and science. The only remaining sign of Almirall's original library is a section of the original facade that faces the library's parking lot.

Inside the lobby is one of the giant sculpted eagles that once proudly rested above the doorway of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper.

www.bklynlibrary.org/locations/central
www.atlasobscura.com/places/brooklyn-daily-eagles-eagle