Central Library (Brooklyn Public Library)

The Brooklyn Central Library is in the central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the border of the Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights neighborhoods. It is located on a roughly triangular site facing Eastern Parkway to the north, Grand Army Plaza to the northwest, and Flatbush Avenue to the southwest. The site has dimensions of on Flatbush Avenue, to the east, and on Eastern Parkway. The main entrance, at the northeast corner of the building, is recessed behind a raised terrace. Egbert Viele's first proposal for Prospect Park, in 1861, called for the park to straddle Flatbush Avenue. Land acquisition began in 1860, The Mount Prospect site went unused until the late 1880s, when a library was proposed for a portion of the site. == Development==

As early as April 1889, Brooklyn's park commissioners had recommended constructing a Brooklyn central library near Grand Army Plaza, just outside Prospect Park. The Brooklyn Public Library system was approved by an Act of Legislature of the State of New York on May 3, 1892. The BPL opened its first branch library, the Bedford Library at PS 3 in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in December 1897; this branch moved among various buildings, including a former mansion at 26 Brevoort Place. Although the formerly independent city of Brooklyn became part of the City of Greater New York in 1898, the BPL declined to merge with the New York Public Library (NYPL). In the long run, the BPL wanted to build a central library and a series of branch libraries throughout the borough of Brooklyn. Planning Site selection By March 1900, the BPL's directors were planning to construct a central library in Brooklyn; the New York State Legislature had provided $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) for the construction of such a structure. That May, the BPL's board voted to recommend that the central library be built along Eastern Parkway, as close as possible to Grand Army Plaza. Andrew Carnegie donated $1.6 million (equivalent to $ million in ) to BPL for the construction of 20 Carnegie branch libraries in 1901, but the New York City government would only appropriate money for a central library after funding for the branch libraries had been secured. Carnegie also considered funding the central library under the condition that the BPL, the private Brooklyn Library, and the Long Island Historical Society combined their collections. At the time, several sites for a central library building were being considered, including a plot at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Herkimer Street in Bedford–Stuyvesant. The Brooklyn Library merged its sizable reference collection with that of the BPL in 1902, but the Long Island Historical Society refused to merge with the other two libraries. Although BPL president David A. Boody urged the creation of a central library for Brooklyn, the trustees wished to first build several of the 20 Carnegie branches. By mid-1904. a committee had been created to identify and recommend sites for the Brooklyn Central Library. After a year of consultations, consulting architect A. D. F. Hamlin recommended in May 1905 that the central library be constructed at Grand Army Plaza; mayor George B. McClellan Jr. authorized the selection of that site shortly afterward. Various persons opposed the site for its small size, irregular shape, and distance from Downtown Brooklyn. At McClellan's request, Carrère and Hastings, the architects of the NYPL's main branch, determined in November 1905 that Grand Army Plaza was a suitable site for a central library. The next month, the BPL's site-selection committee ratified the selection of the Plaza site. The plaza was already well served by public transit, and there were plans to extend the New York City Subway to the area. Approval of Almirall's plans The Board of Estimate allotted $25,000 () in May 1906 for the preparation of plans for the central library. Local architect Raymond F. Almirall, who had designed three Carnegie libraries in Brooklyn, was hired that July to design the Brooklyn Central Library. Almirall, Hamlin, and BPL chief librarian Frank Hill went to Europe, analyzing two dozen buildings in various cities. Almirall had submitted plans for a $3.25 million (equivalent to $ million in ) central library to the BPL's directors by September 1907. The directors postponed a decision on these plans, citing uncertainty over the plaza site, before conditionally approving them that November. The Municipal Art Commission also approved the plans in December 1907. The BPL had begun accepting bids to construct the new library and requested $300,000 from the Board of Estimate in January 1909, at which point the building's estimated cost was as high as $5 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Later that year, Boody asked the city government to issue bonds for the project. The Board of Estimate appropriated $300,000 for the library building in 1910 and promised to give $530,000 in each of the two following fiscal years. By the time the NYPL had completed its main branch in 1911, the BPL had not even started its own central library, even though the Brooklyn Central Library had been planned before the NYPL Main Branch. Work on the Brooklyn Central Library was supposed to begin that June, Test borings for the site commenced in July 1911, and plans for the Flatbush Avenue wing were filed with the Bureau of Buildings in January 1912. Construction of original building Construction of the Brooklyn Central Library's first section spanned multiple mayoral administrations with varying levels of interest in completing the building. A contract for the foundations was awarded the same month. and that the building needed deep foundations because of its proximity to the Mount Prospect Reservoir. Early the following year, the BPL requested $20,000 () for books for the Central Library. Workers were also busy excavating the building's foundations, but foundation contractor Charles Meads reported that the work was several months behind schedule because of inclement weather, loose ground, and a lack of funding. Although the foundation had been completed by early 1914, there was not enough money for the rest of the structure, and the city and the foundation contractor had become involved in a lawsuit over cracks in the foundation. Gaynor's successor, John Purroy Mitchel, felt that funds for the Central Library would be better spent on schools and other projects. City aldermen appropriated $210,000 for the construction of the building's Flatbush Avenue wing in December 1915. Local newspapers reported that, if the wing were not constructed, the foundation would deteriorate. Plans for the basement and first story of the Flatbush Avenue wing were filed with the Bureau of Buildings in March 1916, at which point the wing was expected to cost $600,000. Brooklyn's borough president filed revised plans for the wing that September, and the BPL began receiving bids for the library building's construction, Brooklyn's borough president rejected all the bids in December 1916 for being too expensive; the same month, an additional $56,000 was appropriated for the project. Work on the Flatbush Avenue wing began in March 1917. while city officials gave a different figure of $412,000. According to the city, Almirall had received $129,000 in architects' fees through the end of 1919, despite the minimal progress on the building. Local residents wanted the building's development to be accelerated, as many volumes in the BPL's collection were being damaged or were inaccessible. No construction occurred from 1918 to 1925, while John Francis Hylan was mayor of New York City. and city officials agreed to an additional appropriation that May after touring the still-incomplete edifice. The same year, a fence was erected around the site. Because Hylan opposed further funding for the building, the Board of Estimate notified Riegelmann in July 1923 that it would not provide further funding for the Central Library unless the plans were scaled down. Hylan's refusal to fund the Central Library became a point of contention in the 1925 New York City mayoral election, where Hylan's opponents claimed that he had doubled the city's budget without providing anything for the library building. Only one story of one wing had been completed and was covered with a temporary roof. Attempts to complete the building After Jimmy Walker succeeded Hylan as mayor at the beginning of 1926, his comptroller Charles W. Berry expressed support for completing the Central Library. The Board of Estimate indicated in April 1926 that it would provide $750,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) for the Central Library, and it approved the appropriation that June. By then, the building was planned to cost $14 million to $15 million (equivalent to $ million to $ million in ). Despite Brooklyn officials' desire to resume work as soon as possible, the city did not award a contract for a year after receiving the appropriation. The city hired the Thomas J. Waters Company in August 1927 to complete the building, and work finally resumed that October. The Waters Company demolished the existing Tennessee marble facade, which was expected to reduce total construction costs by $2 million. Afterward, the company planned to construct a three-story wing measuring across. and Brooklyn officials began soliciting bids for the building's completion. City officials agreed in July 1929 to demolish a water tower in Mount Prospect Park, which abutted a portion of the building's foundation that had to be rebuilt, but the water tower was not razed until six months later. By the end of 1929, city engineer William P. Hennessy was preparing plans for the construction of the building's Eastern Parkway wing, rear wing, and central portion. A groundbreaking ceremony for these three sections occurred on January 6, 1930. Contractors were obligated to complete the foundations for these three structures within 250 days. By early 1931, Brooklyn borough president Henry Hesterberg was requesting another $9 million or $9.5 million from the Board of Estimate. Although the board had previously been reluctant to give the Central Library such a large appropriation, Hesterberg said the city could reduce the total construction cost by funding the entirety of the project at once. On rainy days, the foundations of the Eastern Parkway wing were inundated, and local children often played with model boats there; at one point, a boy reportedly drowned in the foundations. The site was also referred to as the "Pigeon Palace", and a "hideous old wreck". The system's circulation had more than doubled compared to 1912, when the Central Library's construction had started, while the number of patrons had nearly doubled. At the same time, the city's board of aldermen notified the BPL that the city government did not have enough funding to cover the Central Library's full cost. The BPL unsuccessfully attempted to obtain funding for the library in 1931 and 1933. == Current library ==

In late 1933, local businessmen asked the city government to request a $9 million (equivalent to $ million in ) loan from the Public Works Administration (PWA). After more than a year, the city voted in April 1935 to request $5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) from the PWA. Brooklyn borough president Raymond Ingersoll announced the next month that Alfred Morton Githens and Francis Keally had redesigned the building; most of the main public rooms were relocated to the ground story, while offices and backroom operations were relocated to the upper stories. Ingersoll promised that September to finish the Central Library. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia officially requested the funding from the PWA the same month, Githens and Keally completed their preliminary designs in February 1936. The original Beaux-Arts design was completely scrapped in favor of an Art Deco design, and the building was redesigned with a fan-shaped plan. Redesign and completion Local leaders formed a committee in February 1936 to advocate for the building's completion. Between April and June 1936, about 200,000 people signed a petition asking PWA secretary Harold L. Ickes to approve money for the building. By then, Ingersoll described the Central Library as the highest-priority "needed improvement" in Brooklyn. Ingersoll requested $2 million from the Board of Estimate in January 1937. and the board approved the funding two months later. The board also approved $20,000 for a modification of the plans that May; it would approve the remaining funds once the plans had been revised. Draftsmen quickly began revising the plans, and the Board of Estimate appropriated $1.883 million for the project that November. Ingersoll began soliciting bids for the Central Library's construction in December 1937. Shortly thereafter, the Cauldwell–Wingate Company received the $1.3 million general contract for the project, and four other companies were awarded contracts for mechanical work. Work began on February 14, 1938, with the demolition of the existing fourth story and removal of the original decorations. To save money, the existing frame was retained. The Board of Estimate approved $30,000 for sculptures on the Central Library in April 1938, and Thomas Hudson Jones and C. Paul Jennewein were hired to design the sculptures, which the Municipal Art Commission approved the same year. In June 1938, the PWA authorized $2.5 million for the Central Library; only the first story was to be fitted out initially. but the city had not appropriated funding for salaries. The city issued $200,000 in bonds that August to fund further construction, and the Board of Estimate provided another $101,000 two months later for equipment. La Guardia toured the Central Library in December 1939, by which time administrative staff had begun moving into the third floor. Because the second floor had not been furnished, the BPL's extension department was forced to work in the building's garage. The BPL began moving books into the Central Branch in early 1940, and the Central Library had 360,000 books in its stacks by that October. That month, BPL chief librarian Milton J. Ferguson requested another $300,000 to complete the second floor, and the Board of Estimate agreed to provide $500,000 shortly afterward. The BPL also announced plans to spend $1,500 on inscribed capstones memorializing Ingersoll, who had died the same year. Upon its opening, the building had 170 employees, excluding WPA workers, and it contained 460,000 books in its collection. the library building opened for limited service two days later. It was the first permanent library building to be opened in Brooklyn in nearly two decades. Because the basement and second story were largely unfinished, some of the offices were housed within the reading room and within a completed portion of the second story. furthermore, the building could only operate for four to seven hours per day due to staff shortages. The Central Library was formally dedicated on March 29, 1941, and the Ingersoll memorial capstones were dedicated in September 1941. The children's library and three departments of the Central Library opened at the beginning of October 1941. By then, the library building was handling 400,000 volumes, prompting Ferguson to ask for money to expand the stacks. The opening of the Central Library meant that the BPL no longer had to rent space for its administrative offices. Consequently, when the building was completed, about two-thirds of the interior was used for administrative purposes. The Central Library opened a "consumers' corner" with books about consumption of goods in early 1942, and it began lending phonograph records to BPL cardholders the same year. In October 1942, the BPL formally dedicated the bas-reliefs that Jennewein had carved into the main entrance's columns. By late 1946, BPL officials believed that the building's second floor needed to be completed to accommodate the borough's growing population. At the time, the second floor did not have any flooring, lighting, or radiators, and there was exposed wiring. The BPL's trustees asked the City Planning Commission in 1948 for $1.385 million to complete the second floor; of this, $385,000 would come from the city's 1949 and 1950 budgets. The still-incomplete second floor was used for an exhibit in 1951. New York City public works commissioner Frederick H. Zurmuhlen requested in April 1952 that the Board of Estimate approve $900,000 for the fitting-out of the Central Library's second floor. By then, the Central Library had a total annual circulation of 1.021 million, about one-seventh of the BPL system's total circulation. The New York Times wrote that library patrons often stood in the main circulating room, while the second floor was being used as storage space. Work on the Central Library was delayed by a strike in mid-1953, but the second story was completed in 1955. The BPL installed a flagpole outside the Eastern Parkway wing of the building in 1959. 1960s and 1970s In 1960, the BPL's chief librarian Francis R. St. John requested money to rehabilitate the Central Library, but the Board of Estimate was willing to provide only $30,000 out of the requested $2.5 million. St. John asked the city for another $115,000 in 1961, though he said the next year that the project would cost $3.235 million. The first and second floors were extended to the rear in 1964, concealing the rear facade. After mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. approved $2.891 million in funding for the building's expansion in April 1965, the BPL hired Keally and Frederick G. Frost Jr. & Associates to design an annex to the building. Brooklyn borough president Abe Stark announced the same year that floodlights would be installed on the Central Library's facade. The BPL planned a two-story annex with a garage and a service room for adults, as well as several new rooms and a set of escalators in the existing building. The new spaces would include a phone-reference room and a book processing department on the first floor; a reading room, microfilm area, and research cubicles on the second floor; and remodeled offices and a larger cafeteria on the third floor. A renovation of the Central Branch began in August 1969. The project lasted several years, with the building remaining open throughout. The Central Library's biography/history/travel and language/literature departments were moved to another part of the building in February 1971, after part of the second floor had been renovated, and the art/music and audiovisual divisions were moved that October. The renovation was completed in July 1973 when several spaces opened on the first floor. These included an expanded periodicals wing in the rear; a language and literature wing on Flatbush Avenue; the Ingersoll Room, which had an extensive paperback collection; and the children's library on Eastern Parkway. The city government approved funding for further repairs to the Central Library in 1974. 1980s and 1990s The BPL began raising money for more improvements to the Central Library in 1982, and the library system announced in 1983 that it would install security cameras throughout the building. Five computer terminals opened at the Central Library in 1987, allowing visitors to access a catalog shared by the BPL, NYPL, and Queens Library. The Central Library had always operated on weekdays during its first half-century, but budget cuts forced the BPL to close the building on Mondays in 1991. By then, the library operated an adult literacy program and an education and career center, and it presented film screenings and book readings to patrons. The main entrance screen was cleaned in 1993. The same year, a garden themed to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' was added outside the children's library entrance. BPL officials announced in early 1996 that they would add computers with internet access to the Central Library; at the time, no BPL branches had internet, but the NYPL and Queens Library both offered that service. After the computers were installed in October 1996, there was extremely high demand for the computers. A "multilingual center", with books in several languages, opened at the Central Library in October 1997. The same year, the card catalogs in the lobby were removed. The children's library, in particular, was frequently overcrowded because of the lack of a courtyard and because the computers in the room were extremely popular. The children's library was expanded starting in July 1999, and it reopened in mid-2000 as the Youth Wing. The renovation, designed by Pasanella, Klein, Stolzman and Berg, cost $2.5 million. the auditorium had been part of Almirall's original design but had never been constructed because of a lack of money. By 2005, more than $14 million had been raised for the terrace and auditorium. The second floor was renovated in 2006, at which point the Brooklyn Collection's reading room opened. opened that October and was named for S. Stevan Dweck, a doctor who donated $1.5 million. The BPL raised $100,000 for further improvements to the Central Library during 2009. The Central Library's Passport Service Center opened in May 2011, making it the first library branch in New York City to issue passports; over the next two years, the center processed applications for 21,000 passports. The Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons opened in January 2013 following a renovation designed by Toshiko Mori. The Info Commons was frequented by patrons who used the space for meetings, research, and even a wedding. By the mid-2010s, the Central Library was often filled to capacity, and the structure was in poor condition. The BPL announced in 2018 that it would spend $135 million renovating the Central Library in four phases. It rehired Mori to renovate the building. The library was temporarily closed from March 2020 to May 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. The first phase of the renovation, costing $38 million, was completed in May 2021 and involved adding a book gallery, expanding various rooms, updating the bathrooms and elevators, and redecorating the interior. The second part of the renovation commenced in 2024; the project was expected to be completed in 2027, and the building would remain open during construction. The second phase involved expanding the adult learning center, adding a room for teenagers, renovating book collection spaces, and overhauling the HVAC system. The BPL also planned to build a footbridge to Mount Prospect Park and rearranging storage spaces in the basement. == Architecture ==

The original library was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Raymond F. Almirall. Much of Almirall's original design, consisting of a central pavilion on Grand Army Plaza flanked by wings on Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue, was never built. Had the structure been fully constructed, it would have contained two basements and four above-ground stories. Githens and Keally's design is a three-story limestone structure, with a pair of wings flanking the entry terrace on Grand Army Plaza. The building also has some Art Moderne decorative elements, such as the terrazzo floors and wood wainscots in the lobby. Form and facade In general, the facade is made of Indiana limestone, except below the first story, where the facade is made of gray granite. According to the National Park Service, the Central Library's shape resembles an open book as viewed from the air. There is another entrance to the Civic Commons section of the building on Flatbush Avenue. The eastern part of the site is higher than the western portion; as such, the main entrance is raised from the ground, while the eastern part of the library building is almost precisely at ground level. The Central Library has retained most of its 1930s design over the years. Main entrance At the northwest corner of the Central Library is a main entrance pavilion with a curving facade on Grand Army Plaza; The northern edge of the terrace contains a flagpole. Each stairway has wrought-iron railings and granite side walls. The center staircase (facing northwest) is divided into four short flights and is flanked by a pair of lighting fixtures with three lamps. and is topped by a pair of cubic staircase enclosures, which are set back from the rest of the facade. At the center of the facade is a rectangular doorway flanked by columns. which depict both classical and contemporary figures. The screen is split into 15 square panels, each of which are gilded and depict a literary character. Both wings are recessed from the sidewalk and contain planted lawns in front of them, with ventilation grates on the lawn facing Eastern Parkway. There are dark-green spandrels above the first- and second-story windows, each of which contain classical motifs, quotes, star shapes, and borders with checkerboard patterns. The southern end of the Flatbush Avenue wing contains a three-story annex, which curves northward to the parking lot at the rear of the building. The first story of this annex is clad in limestone and dates to the building's reconstruction in 1940. The upper two stories are clad in concrete and were built in 1990. and employing 300 full-time staff members, the building serves as the administrative headquarters for the Brooklyn Public Library system. The building was intended to seat 3,000 patrons at once, Following a renovation in 2021, the building's interior was redecorated in a style approximating the original design, is the Dr. S. Stevan Dweck Cultural Center, a 189-seat auditorium that opened in 2007. The auditorium contains two lobbies and two conference rooms. The circulation room itself is three stories high, covering . The rear wall contains a counter. Hallways with oak paneling lead off each end of the circulating room; the entrances to these hallways are flanked by fluted pilasters, and there is a clock above the portal to each hallway. Catalog cases were placed on the rear wall of the circulation room until their removal in the 1990s. A parents' balcony overlooked the space, The Info Commons spans and was largely inspired by the design of Apple Stores, as well as that of the Bobst Library research center on the campus of New York University. Next to it were a staff room and a librarian's office, connected to the trustees' room by a glass-enclosed passage. The structure would have required a quadrilateral site measuring along Grand Army Plaza to the west, along Flatbush Avenue to the southwest, to the east, and along Eastern Parkway to the north. Although the entire site covered , there were to be six light courts with a combined area of . The facade would have been made mostly of limestone, with a granite base. The central pavilion would have had curved corners and three openings. There would have been several Doric columns on the central pavilion, measuring high. The structure was originally planned with space for 1.5 million books, which was later increased to 2.5 million; There was also to be an auditorium in the basement. The ground, first, and second floors would have contained various departments. A mezzanine above the second story would have had staff rooms and dining rooms. Other stories would have contained special departments, rare books, study rooms, and club rooms. == Collections ==

The Brooklyn Central Library contains over 1.7 million materials in its collection. Among the original objects in the Central Library's collection was a copy of a French Imperial Old Testament, one of twenty known to exist. The original collection also included thousands of records by the federal government of the United States, Historically, the Central Library housed the BPL's Brooklyn collection. The collection contained media relating to Brooklyn's history, including photos, books, and a full archive of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. After the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) merged with the BPL in 2020 to form the Center for Brooklyn History, the Brooklyn collection was relocated to the BHS's building in Brooklyn Heights. == Events ==

The Brooklyn Central Library has hosted numerous events throughout its existence and is visited by over 1.3 million people per year . and an exhibit of foreign-born Americans' inventions. By the 2000s, the building was hosting several art exhibits per year. Modern events at the building have included Night in the Library, a performance and party that has been hosted since 2017. The People's Ball, an annual fashion show, was first held in 2018. The New York Times and Time Out magazine have characterized the People's Ball as a free version of the Met Gala. In addition, as part of the Cinema Ephemera program, the BPL sometimes displays videos, films, images, and slideshows are sometimes displayed on the Central Library's main entrance facade at night. The Dweck Center in the Central Branch's basement has also hosted events such as fundraisers and parties since it opened in 2007. == Critical reception ==

Almirall's design When construction on Almirall's original building began in 1912, Building Age magazine wrote: "The new structure will be as complete in details of construction and convenience as it is possible to make it." Christopher Gray wrote for The New York Times in 2004 that Almirall's design had been "a superrich version of Grand Central Terminal's Beaux-Arts sundae but with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry." When the building opened, The Brooklyn Citizen wrote: "The new library to all appearances seems to be a structure of great utilitarian value and architectural beauty". Although architectural critic Lewis Mumford regarded the stacks as mediocre, he thought the main lobby area was "unexpectedly exhilarating" and "the most vital point of the whole design". The BPL's chief librarian during the 1950s, Francis R. St. John, described the Central Library as "the best example of library architecture in America". In 1996, Stern listed the Brooklyn Central Library in his article "A Preservationist's List of 35 Modern Landmarks-in-Waiting". The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Central Library as a New York City landmark in June 1997, and the Central Library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. ==See also==