Fact Sheet

Renovation

The Deborah, Jonathan F.P., Samuel Priest, and Adam R.
Rose Main Reading Room
at the Center for the Humanities, Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street

    A good booke is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, imbalm'd and treasur'd up on purpose
    to a life beyond life.     -- John Milton (Inscription over the doorway to the Rose Main Reading Room)

A $15 million private gift from New York Public Library Trustee Sandra Priest Rose and her husband, Frederick P. Rose, in honor of their four children, has made possible the first complete restoration of the Beaux-Arts building's Rose Main Reading Room.

  • Opening date of the landmark library building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street (now named Center for the Humanities): May 23, 1911
  • Original architects: John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings designed the building as well as the tables, chairs, lamps and chandeliers, even the hardware and wastebaskets
  • Rose Main Reading Room dimensions: 78' wide x 297' long x 51'2" high (approximately the length of a football field)
  • Seating: 42 oak tables, each seating up to 16 readers (total of 624 reader seats; before renovation, only 490 reader seats)
  • Ceiling: plaster, with molded ornamentation, decorative painting, gold and copper leaf, recessed murals
  • Walls: Caen stone (plaster, designed to resemble stone block)
  • Floors: 2" thick red quarry tile (imported from Wales), with marble border
  • Tables: American white oak on marble bases: 22' x 4', tops weigh over 600 lbs. each

Architectural Restoration
One of the largest uncolumned room in the nation has been restored to its original appearance and function.

  • Ornate ceiling cleaned, new murals painted and affixed; plaster elements mended, painted, regilded, and glazed
  • Walls cleaned; cracks and chips patched, primed, and glazed
  • 15 bronze arched windows (17' x 14') fitted with "Low E" glass for energy efficiency and UV protection (before renovation, some windows were "blacked out" with paint)
  • 18 original chandeliers (1,620 lightbulbs) and 168 table lamps cleaned and restored; specially designed fixtures installed to illuminate bookcases and ceiling
  • All original wood bookcases, tables, chairs, and doorways, and the central service enclosure stripped and refinished
  • Original bronze table lamps, railings, fixtures, and handles cleaned and refinished
  • New reference desks, enclosures, and bronze fixtures created in keeping with original designs of Carrère and Hastings

Service Enhancements
The landmark room has been adapted to maximize efficiency of library service while maintaining its historic and aesthetic integrity.

  • Scholars' spaces, microforms service, and copy service relocated, making available 146 more seats for readers of books and other printed materials
  • Microfilm and microfiche moved to Room 100, featuring digital reader-printers
  • New book retrieval conveyor, dumbwaiters, and stack elevator for improved speed and accuracy of material delivered from the stacks (88 miles of stacks within the Center for the Humanities and 37 miles under Bryant Park) to the Rose Main Reading Room
  • Improved access to reference assistance, including compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act
    of 1990
  • New supervised reading area for materials requiring additional care due to condition, rarity, or ownership by other libraries
  • New self-service copying location, and staff-assisted copying areas for General Research Division material
  • Upgraded and redirected heating and air-conditioning systems

Technological Infrastructure
Construction and renovation allowed wiring for new information technologies, giving the public increased access to evolving electronic resources.

  • Installation of data communication cabling and electrical power distribution running from main lines in the basement, through 7 stack floors and directly into the pedestals of the Reading Room tables
  • 48 networked computer workstations installed for searching more than 100 electronic databases, and accessing remote databases, full-text products, and the Internet (before renovation, the room contained 20 stand-alone computers which could run CD-ROM products only)
  • 30 of the 42 tables are wired to provide users of laptop computers with electrical power and connection to the Internet; the remaining 12 tables are not wired, and will be used exclusively for quiet study of print materials
  • 2 audio-visual workstations for moving-image and recorded sound, and 2 for multimedia use

Chairman, The New York Public Library:
Marshall Rose
President, The New York Public Library:
Paul LeClerc
Andrew W. Mellon Director, The Research Libraries:
William D.Walker
Director, Center for the Humanities:
Jean Bowen
Director, Plant Management and Construction:
Sandra Polsak
Senior Project Manager, Center for the Humanities:
Mark Hirsch
Restoration Architect: Davis Brody Bond, LLP:
Partner: Lewis Davis
Project Manager: Anne Asher
Associate Partner: Nathan Hoyt
Project Architect: Julia Doern
Construction Manager:
A.J. Contracting, Inc.

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rchurchill:pro:9/26/98