{"nrhp_refnum":"73000317","name":"Boston Public Library","other_names":["Boston Public Library National Historic Landmark"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Copley Sq.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.34943743850005,"lon":-71.07786848857162,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-06","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1986-02-24","areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public library building on Copley Square in the Back Bay, Boston, designed by Charles Follen McKim and built 1888-1895, with a later addition by Philip Johnson built from 1969 to 1972.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the first of the great urban public library buildings in the United States and one of the first monumental public buildings in the Second Renaissance Revival style, setting a prototype for later libraries. It is also noted for its collaboration of architects, muralists and sculptors. The institution holds a major place in the history of the American public library movement.","narrative":"Boston Public Library occupies the southwestern side of Copley Square in the Back Bay. Designed by Charles Follen McKim and built between 1888 and 1895, it is a three-story granite block in the manner of an Italian Renaissance palace, wrapped around an open courtyard. Its walls are Milford granite, with a tile roof, a second-story window arcade and carved medallions of early printers' marks. Inside, murals by John Singer Sargent, Edwin Austin Abbey and Puvis de Chavannes, along with sculpture by Daniel Chester French, the Saint-Gaudens brothers and Frederick MacMonnies, reflect close collaboration between architects and artists. The nomination describes it as the first great urban public library building in the United States and a model for later library designs. The institution itself dates to an 1848 act of the Massachusetts legislature, the first to authorize a tax-supported municipal public library. A large addition by Philip Johnson, begun in 1969, adjoins the original building.","period_of_significance":"1888-95; 1969-72","architect_builder":"Charles Follen McKim (McKim, Mead and White); addition by Philip Johnson","architectural_style":"Second Renaissance Revival (Italian Renaissance palace style)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked excellent and altered; in use as a library. The exterior and interior public spaces of the original building are described as virtually unaltered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.381192-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/7967/63796738/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000317.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000317/3bf8b4e88b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000317/3bf8b4e88b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"(User:Wgreaves)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McKim_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">(User:Wgreaves)</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:McKim_Building.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73001948","name":"Back Bay Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/back-bay-historic-district-73001948/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796738","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Central_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4948040"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/boston-public-library-73000317/"}