More formally known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the flagship branch of the New York Public Library is above and beyond most other libraries I’ve visited, in particular the architecture.
[Caveat: I’ve never visited the British Library, the George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and my wife and I enjoyed our tour of the Free Library of Philadelphia. That notwithstanding, the Main Branch is really REALLY impressive.]
Visit Logistics
The address of the Main Branch is 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018, which backs onto Bryant Park on Sixth Avenue. You can ride the B, D, F, and M subway to Bryant Park or walk 10 minutes from Grand Central Station.
The library is opens at 10am Monday through Saturday, closing at 6p, except Tu/We when it closes at 8pm. Announced mid-year budget problems were going to require Saturday closures, but it appears the decision has been reversed, though you should confirm before arriving on a Saturday.
The Rose Main Reading Room allows non-research (e.g., tourist) visits between 10am and 10:30am in the morning, after which the doorman politely shoos people away.
Main Entrance
Many immediately recognize the library by its Fifth Avenue-facing facade – the library lions are a dead giveaway – but the interiors are even more awe-inspiring: the two-story vaulted ceilings, an abundance of marble and other natural stone, large amounts of natural light via the arched windows over the doors, massive staircases.
Collection Exhibition
The Main Branch now has a permanent exhibition of their collection on the first floor, just after the doors used to enter from Fifth Avenue. The exhibition is like that of an art museum, except this is a library and not a formal museum.
What surprised me was the depth and breadth of its collection: books, maps, prints, music folios, furniture, musical instruments and even Winnie The Pooh. The exhibit has related items displayed next to one another, making it to dive deep in an interesting area.
The exhibition is well-curated, high-quality, with detailed descriptions, and many surprises. The exhibition makes good use of the space provided, though I found it difficult to figure out what I had seen and what I missed.
Because I did not know that a permanent exhibition existed, I did not have enough time to see everything: museum geeks will likely need 60-90 minutes to really enjoy the collection. I will definitely block out more time for my next visit.
The Rose Main Reading Room
I remember reading about the 1998 renovations to the reading room, wowed by the pictures and description, promising to see iit n person: my wife and I visit the Big Apple regularly, shouldn’t be a problem, right? And yet we didn’t visit until December 2023!
The reading room are actually two large rectangular rooms separated by the librarian area where research material is requested, picked up, and returned. In the middle are rows of long tables for researches to sit at, with many outlets and table lights. The room’s high ceilings and natural lighting are both inviting and impressive.
Along each side are shelves of (what I assume are) common or oft-used research books on various subjects – general research encyclopedias, musicology, botany, gardening, world law, and many more. in English and other languages.
You apparently don’t need to reserve these, as I was able to flip through without triggering alarms!
Even though I visited just after the branch opened, people were already there, some surrounded by reference material obviously do their research while others with laptops opened and seemingly using the quiet space to study.
Visitor Center
Unlike most libraries, the Main Branch has a de facto Visitor Center with exhibits about the library system and the Main Branch building, coat racks (unmanned when I was there, the risk is obviously your’s), maps, guided tours, and more. A place to go if you’re not sure where to start.
My wife asked the Visitor Center employee her thoughts on the visitor traffic: she was downright giggling, saying it was exciting to have so many people visiting, even if they were not doing research.
Architectural Eye Candy
The beauty of the building continues past the Fifth Avenue facade and inside the main entrance: you constantly admire the interior as you walk past the entrance into the guts of the library. This wood-paneled ceiling is the first floor hallway leading you to the visitors’ center.
Many sources refer to the architecture as beaux-arts, and, though I have no formal architecture training, it feels like other public buildings from the early 1900s (the library was dedicated in 1911). Today, building a public building on this scale is considered ostentatious and unnecessarily costly; those around a century later, however, will appreciate the effort, as I do this building.
It’s perfectly acceptable to walk around and soak in the building’s beautify even without a legitimate library reason to be inside, plenty of people are doing the same! It’s a library, and yet it’s so much more.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
- The Map Division collection is not generally open and requires an appointment for material requested in advance.
- Opposite the Rose Main Reading Room is a general purpose room for people to sit down, rest, hang out, study, whatever. The walls showed a collection of 18th and 19th century paintings (of whom, I don’t remember). I don’t know if or how often the paintings change, but an interesting room nevertheless.
- Two temporary exhibits were on the third floor hallways, one north side and one south side. I seem to remember one on the first floor, but not positive. I went through them quickly and seemed interesting.
Image Credits
- “New York City Public Library front” by melanzane1013 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
- all other images © 2023 Susan Sosna and © 2023 Scott Sosna
