Boston Public Library - Boston, MA - Great Buildings of the World on Waymarking.com

Long Description:
In 1880, the Boston Public Library needed a larger building to accommodate its holdings. Architect Charles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead, and White was chosen to design a new building at the corner of Dartmouth Street and Boylston Street. It opened in 1895 and cost $2,268,000.

The rectangular Renaissance Revival, Beaux-Arts style building features a open air courtyard in the center. The building has four levels. The lower level contains the conference rooms. The first floor has exhibition halls, an orientation room, a map room and a cafe. The second floor has the huge Bates Reading Room, the Abbey room which displays the 15 panel mural by Edwin Austin Abbey "The Quest for the Holy Grail", the Chavannes Room with the paintings of the Muses by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, the reference room, delivery room, and Boylston, Elliot and Washington Rooms. The third floor has the Sargent Gallery for the "Triumph of Religion" paintings of John Singer Sargent.

The main circulating collection is now housed in the adjacent Johnson Building that opened in 1972.

City, State or City, Country: Boston, MA Year Built: 1885 - 1895 Architect: McKim, Mead, and White Webpage from GreatBuildings.com or other approved listing: [Web Link] Other website with more information about building: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
Submit a photo you have taken of the building or an interesting detail of the building. (No GPS photos wanted) If you have additional information about the building please add it to your visit log.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   7/10/2019 Sneakin Deacon visited it