53rd Street Library
The 53rd Street Library is a branch of the New York Public Library at 18 West 53rd Street, just west of Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building is located on the south side of 53rd Street, across from the Museum of Modern Art, and adjacent to 660 Fifth Avenue to the east. The library occupies the ground story and two basement levels of a 46-story hotel and residential building.
It opened in 2016 as a replacement for the Donnell Library Center, which occupied a building at 20 West 53rd Street. The Donnell Library Center operated from 1955 until 2008, when it was replaced by the current 46-story building.
Donnell Library Center
The Donnell Library Center was a branch of the New York Public Library at 20 West 53rd Street. It closed on August 30, 2008.
The library was famous for housing the collection of the original
The branch also had the largest New York Public Library circulating collection of materials in languages other than English.[1] It also featured the largest collection in the library system of magazines, hardcover, paperback and recorded books for seventh through twelfth grades in the balcony Nathan Straus Young Adult Center.[2] The auditorium in the basement offered concerts and other cultural events.
The library opened in 1955 and cost $2.5 million, including the books. It is named for Ezekial J. Donnell (1822–1896), a cotton merchant who was an early library patron. Its exterior was clad in Indiana Limestone. It was designed by Edgar I. Williams and Aymar Embury II.[3] The formal name carved in the limestone above the entrance was "The Donnell Free Circulation Library and Reading Room."
Redevelopment
The five-story library, two blocks north of Rockefeller Center, was located across 53rd Street from the Museum of Modern Art, another relatively low-rise mid-block building among many taller Midtown Manhattan buildings along nearby Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue.
In November 2007
In March 2009, after the
The formal design by Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos of the new library was unveiled in May 2013. The new library is 28,000 square feet (2,600 m2), as opposed to the original 97,000-square-foot (9,000 m2) space, on part of the main floor and two lower floors. Much of the main floor space is a massive airy staircase with "bleacher steps" where people can sit and congregate. The new library has a 141-seat auditorium (smaller than the old) and a technology hub. The building contains a two-story-high glass facade.[11] It opened June 27, 2016.[12] Critics spoke highly of the new design but disapproved the smaller size.[13]
Winnie the Pooh dolls
In the 1940s Pooh author
Mayor
Congresswoman
According to the New York Public Library's web site, the dolls were relocated to "grand new quarters in the History and Social Science Library" at the Main Branch, where they were shown in the Children’s Room.[15]
References
- ^ "Donnell Library Center". New York Public Library. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ "Teen Central, Donnell Library Center". New York Public Library. Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ Knox, Sanka (December 7, 1955). "Donnell Library to Open Tuesday". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- ^ Pogrebin, Robin (November 7, 2007). "New York Public Library's Donnell Branch to Share Space With Hotel". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
- ^ Pogrebin, Robin (March 3, 2009). "Bigger Woes for Library, as a Buyer Backs Out". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- ^ Agovino, Theresa (March 16, 2011). "Midtown library site to sprout new $400M hotel". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
- ^ "A Modern Palace - the Baccarat New York Brand". Archived from the original on 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
- ^ Karmin, Craig (2012-04-24). "Starwood's Crystal Vision". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
- ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
- ^ Pogrebin, Robin (2013-05-06). "Design for New Donnell Library by Enrique Norten". The New York Times.
- ^ "About the 53rd Street Library". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
- ^ "Books in the Basement". 2016-06-30. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
- ^ a b Barry, Dan (February 6, 1998). "Pooh-Cornered, Blair Cedes Bear". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- ^ "The Adventures of the Real Winnie-the-Pooh". New York Public Library. Archived from the original on February 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
External links
- Media related to NYPL 53rd Street Branch at Wikimedia Commons