{"nrhp_refnum":"66000547","name":"New York Public Library and Bryant Park","other_names":["See Also:New York Public Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Avenue of the Americas, 5th Ave., 40th and 42nd Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.753507937500046,"lon":-73.98299181626896,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1965-12-21","areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, a Carrère & Hastings building opened in 1911, together with Bryant Park, the formal park behind it between 40th and 42nd Streets and the Avenue of the Americas.","why_significant":"The library is one of the nation's major libraries, created by consolidating the Astor, Lenox and Tilden trusts, and was already a National Historic Landmark. Bryant Park is a prime example of an axial park in the French Classical tradition and a complementary setting for the library. The current park design dates from a 1933 competition won by Lusby Simpson and built in 1934.","narrative":"Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan hold the New York Public Library, designed by Carrère & Hastings and opened in 1911, and behind it Bryant Park, a roughly 500-by-500-foot green space. The library was created in 1895 by merging the Astor, Lenox and Tilden trusts, and in 1901 it merged with ten circulating libraries. Its main reading room seats almost 800 people. Bryant Park occupies ground once used as a potter's field, the site of the Crystal Palace exhibition hall, and the Croton Reservoir. The architects planned the raised terrace, stone kiosks and the archway sheltering the William Cullen Bryant statue to harmonize the building with the park. The present layout follows a 1933 competition for unemployed architects, won by Lusby Simpson of Queens. Public Works Administration workers built it, and it was rededicated in 1934. It has a depressed central lawn, flagstone walks under plane trees and a granite retaining wall. The park was added to the library's earlier landmark status as an integral part of its setting.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900- (specific dates 1933-34)","architect_builder":"Carrère & Hastings (library, 1911, and park terrace and kiosks); Lusby Simpson (park design, 1934); Charles A. Platt (Lowell Memorial Fountain, 1912)","architectural_style":"French Classical tradition (park)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Library listed in excellent condition and in use as a library; park listed as fair and altered, publicly accessible and used as a park.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.971506-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/66000547.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000547/030a87e94d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000547/030a87e94d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Another Believer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryant_Park,_New_York_City_(May_2014)_-_06.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Another Believer</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryant_Park,_New_York_City_(May_2014)_-_06.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319776","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library_and_Bryant_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8247542"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/new-york-public-library-and-bryant-park-66000547/"}