331 East 10th Street Building Date : 1904 Original Use : Institutional Original Owner : New York Public Library Original Architect : McKim, Mead & White Description & Building Alterations The Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library is one of the earliest branches commissioned by Andrew Carnegie. It was designed by the nationally known firm, McKim, Mead & White, who was responsible for many classically influenced buildings in New York City and twelve other Carnegie branch libraries. Andrew Carnegie funded 67 local libraries in New York City, most of which were designed by the city’s top architecture firms. McKim, Mead and White designed thirteen libraries. This building was designated a New York City Landmark in May of 1998. Constructed in 1904 in the Classical Revival Style, the building’s three story, three-bay wide limestone and granite facade features rusticated piers from the ground level to the cornice, which consists of dentils and an ornamented frieze. Each story is separated by a belt course. On the second level, the windows are topped with decorated tympanums and surrounded with rounded arches that are repeated on the ground level. At the center of the tympanums is the seal of the City of New York , flanked by colophones of the Aldine Press of Venice and the Christophe Plantin Press of Antwerp.

Touring the streets surrounding Tompkins Square Park, we look at moments in time where the actions of neighbors, activists and local organizations helped change the course of history, letting personal recollection guide us through these sites. Learn how constant advocacy through zoning, historic districts and landmarking efforts helps ensure the survival of small businesses, spaces of community, and architectural identity in the East Village.

"Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library, ca. 1904." The history of the Tompkins Square Branch goes back to 1901, when controversial steel magnate Andrew Carnegie donated $5.2 million to the city to help build a network of branch libraries across the five boroughs. The Tompkins Square Branch was the ninth Carnegie Library built in the city and was designed in a restrained Classical Revival style by Charles McKim of the well-known firm of McKim, Mead, & White. Carnegie’s business dealings were known as very anti-labor and for the violent repression of striking workers during the Homestead strike. The library’s designation report notes that the nearby institutional buildings helped influence the siting of the library – these include P.S. 64 to the east, which was in the planning stages, the (now landmarked) public baths a block north on 11th Street, and the Boys Club Building on Avenue A and 10th Street. The library reached out to the local community from its beginning — at the time the large German population was giving way to new immigrant groups like Italians, Eastern-European Jews, and Poles. The library held one of the most extensive Polish book collections in the city, and used its specially-built community rooms for meetings and classes for the public. The New York Public Library Digital Gallery houses a great collection of English language course posters from 1920 that show the diverse communities that the library sought to serve, and continues today. Today the Tompkins Square Branch continues the tradition of community education and offers programs like picture book readings for toddlers, yoga classes, art and manga drawing workshops.

📚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. 📚