{"nrhp_refnum":"87002599","name":"Low Memorial Library, Columbia University","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W. Sixteenth St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.80818088950005,"lon":-73.96182360930365,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-12-23","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1987-12-23","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Low Memorial Library is a Beaux-Arts, Pantheon-inspired building at the center of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, built in 1895-1897 to a design by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a masterwork of architect Charles Follen McKim and the centerpiece of a campus plan regarded as a classic of Beaux-Arts planning. It was the first major building of Columbia's new campus and the symbolic center of the university. It was funded by Seth Low, who was the university's president and later Mayor of New York.","narrative":"Low Memorial Library anchors the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University in Manhattan. Built in 1895-1897 and designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White, it follows a Greek cross plan and takes the Roman Pantheon as its model. A saucer-shaped dome rises over an octagonal drum, and a portico of ten colossal Ionic columns fronts a broad flight of steps. Inside, a central hall 73 feet across is ringed by sixteen granite columns and stone galleries that once held books. Seth Low, a Columbia graduate and university president, paid for the building in honor of his father. The great hall never worked well as a reading room, and it became a ceremonial space and administrative center. The building is valued as one of McKim's masterpieces and as the focal point of a campus plan that reflects the City Beautiful movement and the classical revival that followed the 1893 Chicago exposition.","period_of_significance":"1895-1897","architect_builder":"Charles Follen McKim / McKim, Mead & White","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts, classical (modeled on the Pantheon)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in excellent condition per the form; used for administrative offices, exhibitions, convocations and receptions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.051414-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/87002599_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002599/57fb429e39-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002599/57fb429e39-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ad Meskens","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Low_Memorial_Library_Columbia_University_College_Walk_Court_Yard_05.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ad Meskens</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:Low_Memorial_Library_Columbia_University_College_Walk_Court_Yard_05.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315814","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Memorial_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6692918"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/low-memorial-library-columbia-university-87002599/"}