{"nrhp_refnum":"66000546","name":"New York Public Library","other_names":["See Also:New York Public Library and Bryant Park"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5th Ave. and 42nd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.75350794150006,"lon":-73.98299180588944,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1965-12-21","areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The New York Public Library's Central Building at Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street in Manhattan, a three-story Beaux Arts library designed and built by Carrère and Hastings from 1902 to 1909 on the site of the former Croton Reservoir.","why_significant":"The nomination, made under the theme of Education, treats the library as one of the nation's major libraries and an almost unrivalled center of study and research. It formed in 1895 by consolidating the Astor, Lenox and Tilden libraries, and later merged with ten circulation libraries. The building is also a handsome example of Beaux Arts classicism.","narrative":"Occupying the full block at Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street, this Manhattan library was designed by Carrère and Hastings and built between 1902 and 1909 on the foundations of the old Croton Reservoir. Its Fifth Avenue portico has six Corinthian columns and three arches, flanked by Edward Clark Potter's stone lions. Inside, the main reading room seats about 800 readers beneath a 50-foot ceiling, and twenty-one specialized reading rooms supplement it. The institution began in 1895, when the Astor, Lenox and Tilden libraries combined to form a reference library, and in 1901 it merged with ten circulation libraries after a gift from Andrew Carnegie. The city agreed to build the structure in 1897, and it opened on May 23, 1911, at a cost of about $9 million. It was recognized for its national role in American education, offering general readers and scholars extensive manuscript, rare book and general collections. The boundary also includes Bryant Park, which forms the library's setting.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Carrere and Hastings","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts classicism","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and essentially unchanged apart from some partitions; occupied and in use as a library.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.0042-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/66000546_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000546/4c63c654f1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000546/4c63c654f1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"ajay_suresh","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_York_Public_Library_-_Main_Branch_(51396225599).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">ajay_suresh</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_York_Public_Library_-_Main_Branch_(51396225599).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315922","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library_Main_Branch","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7013887"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/new-york-public-library-66000546/"}