The main building of the New York Public Library, opened in 1911 on Fifth Avenue: a Beaux-Arts palace of white marble, guarded by the lions Patience and Fortitude and open to every reader free of charge.
At a glance
- Type
- Public research library
- Period
- 1902–1911; opened 23 May 1911
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- Location
- 476 Fifth Avenue, between 40th and 42nd Streets, Midtown Manhattan, New York, USA
- Coordinates
- 40.7532, -73.9822
- Architects
- Carrère and Hastings
- Lions
- Designed by Edward Clark Potter, carved in Tennessee marble by the Piccirilli Brothers
- Protection
- National Historic Landmark (1965); New York City Landmark (facade 1967, interiors 1974 and 2017)
Overview
The New York Public Library was formed in 1895 by joining the Astor and Lenox libraries, and this was the building made to house it: a research library open to anyone, without fee or membership. Carrère and Hastings, then a little-known firm, won the design in November 1897. The library rose on the site of the old Croton reservoir on Fifth Avenue and was opened on 23 May 1911, at a ceremony led by President William Howard Taft. Since 2008 the building has carried the name of the donor Stephen A. Schwarzman.
History
The cornerstone was laid on 10 November 1902, and the building took almost nine years to finish. Its heart is the Rose Main Reading Room on the top floor, 297 feet long and 78 feet wide under a ceiling 52 feet high painted with open skies, with the book stacks set directly beneath it so that volumes could be sent up to the readers.
In the 1930s Mayor Fiorello La Guardia gave the two lions on the steps their names, Patience and Fortitude. In May 2014 one of the plaster rosettes of the reading room ceiling fell to the floor; the room closed for repair and reopened on 5 October 2016.
Architecture and Design
From Fifth Avenue a broad terrace and stair lead up to a portico of three arches, with allegorical figures by Paul Wayland Bartlett above it and sculptures by Frederick MacMonnies in the alcoves on either side. The lions sit at the foot of the stair. Inside, the white marble of Astor Hall opens onto staircases that climb to the third floor, where the McGraw Rotunda carries Edward Laning’s murals on the history of the written word, painted in 1940, before the reading room itself. Part of the collections is kept in stacks beneath the building and under Bryant Park behind it.
Cultural significance
The building stands for an idea as much as for its architecture: one of the great research collections of the world, open to anyone who walks in. Among them is the Gutenberg Bible bought by James Lenox, the first copy to reach America. It is also one of the most filmed interiors in New York, from the opening scene of Ghostbusters (1984) to The Day After Tomorrow (2004).
Visiting today
Entry is free. Since 2021 the building has shown the Polonsky Exhibition of the library’s treasures, and the library runs free tours; check opening hours and tour times on nypl.org before you go. Bryant Park, directly behind the library, is the place for a pause.
Getting there
The 42 St–Bryant Park station (B, D, F and M lines) and the 5 Av station (7 line) are next to the building; Grand Central Terminal is about five minutes’ walk east along 42nd Street.
Sources and resources
- Stephen A. Schwarzman Building – Wikipedia (founding, competition, construction, opening, lions, reading room, 2014–2016 repair, landmark designations)
- The New York Public Library – official website, for visiting hours and tours
- Cultural Heritage Online
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →Record researched and written by Luigi De Marchi for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
📷 Become a Cultural Heritage Online photographer
Share your photos of places: they stay published under your name as the author. The more they're seen, the more you get noticed — and soon a contest will reward the most appreciated photos.
Log in or sign up free to add a photoIs this page about you?
This page is read by travellers and heritage enthusiasts who find it on Google. Tell us how you are connected to this place and we will take it from there.