
Stone Avenue Branch, Brooklyn Public Library. Image Credit: LPC.
Library was the first in the nation devoted solely to the needs of children. On April 7, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential individual landmark designation of the Stone Avenue Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, at 581 Mother Gaston Boulevard in the Brownsville neighborhood. The Library completed in 1914, to designs by architect William B. Tubby, is one of 21 public libraries in Brooklyn whose development was funded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in the early 20th century. (read more…)

New York Public Library, Seward Park branch, 192 East Broadway, Manhattan. Credit: LPC
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Testimony supporting designation of 1909 library focused on institution’s importance to generations of Lower East Side’s immigrant communities. On April 2, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the potential landmark designation of the Seward Park branch of the New York Public Library. The branch, located at 192 East Broadway, is a Renaissance Revival building that was completed in 1909 to designs from the firm of Babb, Cook & Welch. The library was one of 67 built in the City between 1902 and 1929 with funds provided by Andrew Carnegie. The three-story building is clad primarily in red brick, with limestone trim and a rusticated limestone base. A weathered copper railing stands above the building’s modillioned cornices and originally enclosed a unique open-air reading room on the roof, which is no longer in use.
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