Park Slope Branch, ca.1925. Completed in 1906 to the designs of Raymond F. Almirall, the current Park Slope Branch was originally named the Prospect Branch (it was renamed in 1975). Raymond F. Almirall designed four Brooklyn branches and was a member of the Brooklyn Carnegie Committee’s Architects’ Advisory Commission. Built in a Classic Revival style, the building is set back from the street and is symmetrical in floorplan. The interior of this branch is notable for being particularly ornate and largely still original. The entrance floor is a multi-colored mosaic and the walls of the reading rooms are clad in wooden wainscoting. Other interior features include arched stained glass windows and tiled and wood-framed fireplaces.

📚In 1901 after selling his corporation for $500 million, steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie announced a $5.2 million donation to the City of New York for the construction of public library buildings. With this gift, 67 branch libraries were constructed in the five boroughs between 1903 and 1929. 📚

Park Slope Branch, Brooklyn Public Library 431 Sixth Avenue Raymond F. Almirall, 1905-06 This library was originally the Prospect Branch, housed beginning in 1900 in Prospect Park’s Litchfield Villa and consisting solely of books related to natural history. As Park Slope’s population grew, the demand for a larger, all-purpose library led to its relocation in 1901 to several storefronts on 9th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. By 1904, the city purchased a large site and began planning for a new Carnegie-funded building. Its name was changed to Park Slope in 1975. The Classical Revival style, brick-clad building with limestone trim features an imposing, projecting portico entrance with Doric columns and a stone pediment. Like those found on the Pacific Branch, the torches in the keystones above the entrance and windows represent the light of learning. Its intact interior features stained glass, tiled fireplaces, wood paneling and marble mosaic floors. The Park Slope branch was designated in 1998.

New York City has three public library systems: the New York Public Library (in Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island), the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Borough Public Library. The reason for these independent systems was due to their origins prior to the 1898 consolidation of the five boroughs. The City of New York’s first free circulating library was established in 1878, even though multiple bills were passed by the New York Legislature for such a public service beginning in the 1830s. Over those decades, private libraries served as research facilities for scholars and students, but none were open to the general public. In 1880, the New York Free Circulating Library (NYFCL) was established, operating out of several rooms at 36 Bond Street and funded by private donors. The NYFCL was formally incorporated in 1884, and its first building opened at 135 Second Avenue (site 1). Between 1884 and 1901, 11 branches were built, consisting of 1.6 million volumes. In 1901, steel baron Andrew Carnegie retired and devoted his energy and wealth to the development of libraries throughout the English-speaking world, including New York City. This would forever change the institution. The New York Public Library (NYPL) was formed in 1895 with the consolidation of three private corporations: the Astor Library (founded by John Jacob Astor in 1849), the Lenox Library (founded by James Lenox in 1870) and The Tilden Trust (a fund established in 1886 by former New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden). The NYFCL also joined this consolidation in 1901 in order to benefit from Carnegie’s gift of $5.2 million for 67 library branches to be built between 1901 and 1929 (56 are still standing). Carnegie’s only stipulation was that the city acquire the sites and establish building maintenance plans. To design the buildings, the NYPL organized a committee of architects: Charles F. McKim, Walter Cook and John M. Carrère. In order to stylistically link the branches and save money, the committee decided on a uniform scale, interior layout, character and materials palette for the buildings. Construction for the main branch, a grand building in the heart of Manhattan, began in 1901. The NYPL became and remains one of the leading research institutions in the world. Queens’ first public library was established in Flushing in 1858, and became a free circulating library in 1869. In 1901, the borough’s independent libraries merged to become the Queens Borough Library, and were eventually housed in Carnegie- funded buildings. The system acquired its current name, the Queens Borough Public Library (QBPL), in 1907. Brooklyn’s first free public library was that of the Pratt Institute, which opened in 1888. In 1892, the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) was created through state legislation, and in 1901, Carnegie signed a contract for the construction of libraries in Brooklyn. Both the QBPL and the BPL were established as independent corporations with trustees appointed by the mayor and civil service staff. In the broad sense, New York City’s library systems are one of its finest resources. In the local sense, its branches function as community anchors, both for the services they provide and for their architectural contributions to each neighborhood’s sense of place. While this brochure focuses on the origins of the city’s public library systems and offers a glimpse at some of its early extant branches, there are over 200 public libraries across the five boroughs, as well as private and institutional libraries that are also well worth visiting.