Dennis Saul
The decade of the 1910s was defined by the grand opening and first years of operation for the New York Public Library’s magnificent Main Branch. After nine years of construction on the former site of the Croton Reservoir at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, the massive white marble building opened its doors to the public on May 23, 1911, an event met with tremendous civic pride and excitement.
The day before the public opening, a formal dedication ceremony was held. The event was attended by the nation’s most powerful figures, including President William Howard Taft and New York’s Governor and Mayor. President Taft himself delivered the main address. The following morning, when the great bronze doors were finally unlocked, an estimated 50,000 citizens poured into the building, eager to explore the city’s new palace for the people.
Visitors were greeted by the two majestic marble lions, later nicknamed Patience and Fortitude, that guarded the main entrance on Fifth Avenue. Inside, the first space they entered was Astor Hall, a vast, cavernous chamber made entirely of cool white marble, with soaring arches and grand staircases on either side leading to the upper floors. The building was a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts architectural style, designed by the firm Carrère and Hastings to inspire a sense of awe and reverence for learning.
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The heart of the new library was the Rose Main Reading Room on the third floor. This enormous space, nearly two city blocks in length, was the largest of its kind in the world. Its 52-foot-high ceiling was decorated with murals of a sky filled with pink clouds. Sunlight flooded the room through giant arched windows. Long, heavy oak tables provided seating for hundreds of readers, who could work in quiet contemplation under the brilliant light.
The library was also a marvel of modern technology. A patron would submit a request for a book on a call slip at a desk in the reading room. That slip was then placed in a pneumatic tube and shot down to the appropriate location in the seven levels of stacks located directly beneath the floor. A librarian would retrieve the book, place it on a small, automated electric railway car, and send it back up to the main desk, where it would be delivered to the waiting reader.
In its first decade, the library established itself as a vital institution for all New Yorkers. It was a major center for scholars conducting research, but it was also a welcoming place for new immigrants seeking to learn English and for ordinary citizens pursuing self-education. It opened specialized collections, including a Picture Collection and a Children’s Center, a revolutionary idea at the time that provided a dedicated space for the city’s youngest readers.
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