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Boston Central Library
The Central Library (also the Copley Square Library) is the main location of the Boston Public Library (BPL), occupying a full city block on Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It consists of the McKim Building, designed by Charles Follen McKim, and the Johnson Building, designed by Philip Johnson. The McKim Building, which includes the library's research collection, is designed in the Renaissance Revival and Beaux-Arts styles. The Johnson Building has the circulating and rare-books collections and is designed in the Brutalist style. The library has 4 million annual visitors as of 2024[update].
The BPL was established in 1852 and relocated several times in its first three decades. In response to overcrowding, the Massachusetts state legislature set aside land in Back Bay for a central library in 1880. Following several attempts to devise plans, including an unsuccessful architectural design competition, McKim was hired to design the McKim Building in 1887. Work began the next year, but construction was delayed partly due to cost overruns. Even after the McKim Building opened in February 1895, it took two decades to complete the building's artwork. To accommodate the collection's growth, the building was renovated in 1898 and expanded in 1918. Further growth prompted the BPL to consider an expansion in the mid-20th century, and the Johnson Building was developed from 1969 to 1972. The McKim Building was renovated in the 1990s, followed by the Johnson Building in the 2010s.
The McKim Building has a nearly square floor plan surrounding an outdoor courtyard. Its three-story granite facade has a horizontal arcade, inscriptions, and medallions, facing east toward Dartmouth Street. Inside are several elaborately-decorated spaces, with departments across all three floors. The main entrance leads to a marble vestibule, a lobby with vaulted ceilings, and a grand staircase with murals. Bates Hall, a barrel-vaulted reading room, spans the second floor's width, and ornate lobbies on that story lead to other spaces such as delivery and catalog rooms. Sargent Hall on the third floor, named after murals painted by John Singer Sargent, leads to the art room and several private libraries. West of the McKim Building is the Johnson Building, whose granite facade has slanting lunette windows and a windowless upper section. Its interior is divided into square modules surrounding a central atrium.
Over the years, the McKim Building's design has been praised, while the Johnson Building's design has received mixed commentary. Both sections of the Central Library are designated as Boston city landmarks, and the McKim Building is also a National Historic Landmark.
The Boston Central Library is on Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It occupies a full city block bounded by Boylston Street to the north, Dartmouth Street to the east, Blagden Street (originally St. James Avenue) to the south, and Exeter Street to the west. The original library, designed by Charles Follen McKim, is on the eastern half of the block. The western half is occupied by an annex designed by Philip Johnson. The two sections of the building are about 2.5 inches (64 mm) apart.
The library building overlooks Boston Common to the northeast, as well as Old South Church to the northwest. At the time of the library's development in the late 19th century, there were various brownstone houses to the north as well. The library also faces Trinity Church, which is across Dartmouth Street to the east. Also across Dartmouth Street is a plaque to the Lebanese-born poet and philosopher Gibran Khalil Gibran, dedicated in 1977. In addition, there is an ornamental portal to the MBTA subway's Copley station in front of the library's Boylston Street entrance.
The Boston Public Library (BPL) was established in 1852, and its first location, the two-room Adams Schoolhouse on Mason Street, opened in 1854. Within three years, the collection occupied three buildings. The original structure was replaced in 1858 by a new central library at 55 Boylston Street, which cost $364,000 to build and originally had 70,000 volumes. The second building's collection was split between a circulating collection in a lower hall and a research collection in an upper hall, Bates Hall. The BPL's collection gradually increased with various donations, and it had outgrown the second building within ten years. As such, the library system was granted permission to open branches in 1869. The central library at Boylston Street had an annual circulation of 380,000 by 1872, and the overcrowded collection posed a fire hazard by the late 1870s. The central library had more than 250,000 volumes by the early 1880s, a figure that was growing by the year.
After the BPL was incorporated in 1878, it requested that the General Court, the state legislature of Massachusetts, set aside a site in Back Bay for a new library. The General Court gave the BPL a site on April 22, 1880, under the condition that construction begin within three years. The site, at the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth streets, covered about 33,000 square feet (3,100 m2). The land was near Trinity Church and the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Harvard Medical School owned a lot immediately to the west, extending to Exeter Street. Henry Van Brunt and the city government's architect George Albert Clough separately drew up plans for moving the library to the English High and Latin School, but the BPL's trustees determined these proposals to be impractical. Clough next drew up plans for a new building on Dartmouth Street, which were submitted to the Board of Aldermen, the upper chamber of the Boston City Council, in February 1883. The city had not yet obtained the site at Boylston and Dartmouth streets due to uncertainty over where to move the library.
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Boston Central Library
The Central Library (also the Copley Square Library) is the main location of the Boston Public Library (BPL), occupying a full city block on Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It consists of the McKim Building, designed by Charles Follen McKim, and the Johnson Building, designed by Philip Johnson. The McKim Building, which includes the library's research collection, is designed in the Renaissance Revival and Beaux-Arts styles. The Johnson Building has the circulating and rare-books collections and is designed in the Brutalist style. The library has 4 million annual visitors as of 2024[update].
The BPL was established in 1852 and relocated several times in its first three decades. In response to overcrowding, the Massachusetts state legislature set aside land in Back Bay for a central library in 1880. Following several attempts to devise plans, including an unsuccessful architectural design competition, McKim was hired to design the McKim Building in 1887. Work began the next year, but construction was delayed partly due to cost overruns. Even after the McKim Building opened in February 1895, it took two decades to complete the building's artwork. To accommodate the collection's growth, the building was renovated in 1898 and expanded in 1918. Further growth prompted the BPL to consider an expansion in the mid-20th century, and the Johnson Building was developed from 1969 to 1972. The McKim Building was renovated in the 1990s, followed by the Johnson Building in the 2010s.
The McKim Building has a nearly square floor plan surrounding an outdoor courtyard. Its three-story granite facade has a horizontal arcade, inscriptions, and medallions, facing east toward Dartmouth Street. Inside are several elaborately-decorated spaces, with departments across all three floors. The main entrance leads to a marble vestibule, a lobby with vaulted ceilings, and a grand staircase with murals. Bates Hall, a barrel-vaulted reading room, spans the second floor's width, and ornate lobbies on that story lead to other spaces such as delivery and catalog rooms. Sargent Hall on the third floor, named after murals painted by John Singer Sargent, leads to the art room and several private libraries. West of the McKim Building is the Johnson Building, whose granite facade has slanting lunette windows and a windowless upper section. Its interior is divided into square modules surrounding a central atrium.
Over the years, the McKim Building's design has been praised, while the Johnson Building's design has received mixed commentary. Both sections of the Central Library are designated as Boston city landmarks, and the McKim Building is also a National Historic Landmark.
The Boston Central Library is on Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It occupies a full city block bounded by Boylston Street to the north, Dartmouth Street to the east, Blagden Street (originally St. James Avenue) to the south, and Exeter Street to the west. The original library, designed by Charles Follen McKim, is on the eastern half of the block. The western half is occupied by an annex designed by Philip Johnson. The two sections of the building are about 2.5 inches (64 mm) apart.
The library building overlooks Boston Common to the northeast, as well as Old South Church to the northwest. At the time of the library's development in the late 19th century, there were various brownstone houses to the north as well. The library also faces Trinity Church, which is across Dartmouth Street to the east. Also across Dartmouth Street is a plaque to the Lebanese-born poet and philosopher Gibran Khalil Gibran, dedicated in 1977. In addition, there is an ornamental portal to the MBTA subway's Copley station in front of the library's Boylston Street entrance.
The Boston Public Library (BPL) was established in 1852, and its first location, the two-room Adams Schoolhouse on Mason Street, opened in 1854. Within three years, the collection occupied three buildings. The original structure was replaced in 1858 by a new central library at 55 Boylston Street, which cost $364,000 to build and originally had 70,000 volumes. The second building's collection was split between a circulating collection in a lower hall and a research collection in an upper hall, Bates Hall. The BPL's collection gradually increased with various donations, and it had outgrown the second building within ten years. As such, the library system was granted permission to open branches in 1869. The central library at Boylston Street had an annual circulation of 380,000 by 1872, and the overcrowded collection posed a fire hazard by the late 1870s. The central library had more than 250,000 volumes by the early 1880s, a figure that was growing by the year.
After the BPL was incorporated in 1878, it requested that the General Court, the state legislature of Massachusetts, set aside a site in Back Bay for a new library. The General Court gave the BPL a site on April 22, 1880, under the condition that construction begin within three years. The site, at the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth streets, covered about 33,000 square feet (3,100 m2). The land was near Trinity Church and the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Harvard Medical School owned a lot immediately to the west, extending to Exeter Street. Henry Van Brunt and the city government's architect George Albert Clough separately drew up plans for moving the library to the English High and Latin School, but the BPL's trustees determined these proposals to be impractical. Clough next drew up plans for a new building on Dartmouth Street, which were submitted to the Board of Aldermen, the upper chamber of the Boston City Council, in February 1883. The city had not yet obtained the site at Boylston and Dartmouth streets due to uncertainty over where to move the library.
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