5th Avenue Between 40th and 42nd Streets
(212) 930-0800
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The
New York Public Library is one of the most famous architectural
structures in New York. It’s beautiful Beaux Arts design and
marble colonnade distinguish it from the skyscrapers and
professional buildings that surround it and helped declare it a
National Historic Landmark.
Besides the notable design
of the building, the Library is known among New Yorkers for the
pair of huge marble lions that mark either side of the 5th
Avenue entrance. Named "Patience" and
"Fortitude" by beloved Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, they
create the second most famous New York pun of "going to the
library to read between the lions". (To find out the most
famous pun, ask any native New Yorker how to get to Carnegie Hall).
Besides
being a remarkable architectural landmark, the New York Public
Library is also a renowned research library. When originally
constructed in 1911, the library housed the collections of the
Lenox Library and the Astor Library. Today, the library has grown
to contain over 6 million books, 12 million periodicals and almost
three million pictures.
Free tours are available
Monday through Saturday at 11am and 2pm. You must sign up in
advance for the one-hour tours at the information desk. There is
no standard tour, but most docents will bring you through Astor
Hall, the beautiful main entrance to the library and the DeWitt
Wallace Periodicals room, with its mural celebrating New York’s
role in publishing. Don’t miss the Main Reading Room, it’s oak
tables with brass fixtures create perfect reading spots within the
cavernous room.
The library has several
exhibition areas and galleries that house a mixture of permanent
and temporary displays. Two of the most notable items in it’s
permanent collection are Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George
Washington and Charles Dicken’s desk. Call (212) 869-8089 for
exhibit information.
