57 Fifth Avenue was built around 1852 by James Lenox, the noted philanthropist and bibliophile whose mansion was located directly south of this building at 55 Fifth Avenue. 55 Fifth Avenue (now demolished) housed Lenox’s collection of books that eventually became the Lenox Library.

James Lenox, 1870-1880 57 Fifth Avenue is listed as the address for James Lenox’s sister Henrietta Lenox. When he died in 1880, James Lenox left much of his considerable estate to his sister Henrietta, to whom he was very close and who, like him, never married. After her brother’s death, Henrietta became a major benefactor to the Lenox Library, which would become one of the three founding entities of the New York Public Library, donating twenty-two valuable adjoining building lots and $100,000 for the purchase of books. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

59 Fifth Avenue was built around 1852 by James Lenox, the noted philanthropist and bibliophile whose mansion was located directly south of this building and neighboring 57 Fifth Avenue. Lenox’ mansion, at 55 Fifth Avenue (now demolished) housed his collection of books which eventually became the Lenox Library, one of the original entities which merged to form the New York Public Library.

James Lenox, 1870-1880 Unlike 57 Fifth Avenue, which was given a new façade in the early 20th century, 59 Fifth Avenue retains much of its original mid-19th century detail on its façade, which dates to the earliest phase of development of lower Fifth Avenue as the most exclusive address in New York. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The Lenox Library was the product of eccentric Gilded Age millionaire James Lenox. His father Robert, a Scottish immigrant, became one of the most successful real estate investors and developers in New York City in the early 19th century and one of its richest men. When he died in 1839, James inherited the family business, as well as 300 acres of property on today’s Upper East Side (the neighborhood now known as Lenox Hill). But by 1845, James Lenox was done with business and retired to pursue his passions of book collecting and building an unrivaled home for himself.

James Lenox, 1870-1880 He succeeded wildly in both endeavors. Lenox quickly amassed one of the largest book collections in the country, with a special emphasis on rare books, Americana, and an unsurpassed collection of bibles, including the only Guttenberg Bible in America. Starting in 1846, he also built one of the largest and most impressive homes in 19th-century New York, what came to be known as the Lenox Mansion, on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue at 12th Street. It was located diagonally across from the First Presbyterian Church to which the deeply religious Lenox was extremely dedicated. It was furthermore part of the newly fashionable lower Fifth Avenue which just a few years earlier Henry Brevoort had turned into New York’s premier address with the construction of his mansion.

Lenox’s two passions came together when he turned his home into a repository for his ever-growing book collection. The library was, however, kept private, with only the notoriously reclusive Lenox knowing how the books were ordered and where they were kept. Visitors seeking to access the world-renowned private library – which included among other prized items George Washington’s farewell address, all known editions of Milton’s Paradise Lost, and several first editions of Shakespeare’s plays – were typically rebuffed. The rare exception was when New York’s chief Judge Charles P. Daly wished to see a book of which Lenox owned the only known copy in the country; Lenox had it sent to Daly with a servant, who was instructed to wait with it and the judge until he was done reading, and then immediately return with it. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Benjamin Hazard Field (1814-1893) was a leading philanthropist in New York City during the 19th century. He gave tirelessly of both time and money to some of New York City’s most notable charitable and educational institutions. The early successes of many of these entities were a direct result of Field’s leadership and generosity, which gave them the foundations that allowed them to thrive for generations, in many cases into the present. Field and his family moved into 86 University Place (originally numbered 56, then numbered 50 between 1851 and 1898) around 1843, shortly after the house was built. New York City directories show the family at this location until 1856, when they moved to an elegant mansion on East 26th Street fronting Madison Square Park (demolished).

Benjamin Hazard Field, 1875 Field was one of the original founders of the New York City Free Circulating Library (NYFCL), and its president from 1885 to 1893. He was key to the NYFCL’s success and rapid growth, extending branches into poor neighborhoods and reaching New York City residents who could not access the private libraries of the day or gain much of any exposure to literature. Under Field’s leadership, the combined circulation of the library’s two original branches rose to 240,000 books per year. Also during Field’s presidency, NYFCL implemented a plan to secure a sound financial footing with appeals to the various trades and professionals for annual memberships. His campaign was quite successful, and with the additional generosity of large benefactors such as Andrew Carnegie, new branches were opened. The NYFCL would merge at the beginning of the 20th century with the New York Public Library, which advanced the free public circulating branch library system pioneered by the NYFCL.

The Ottendorfer branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, 1917 During Field’s time leading the NYFCL, the system expanded exponentially and introduced innovations in libraries which are still being used today. In 1887, Catherine W. Bruce gave $50,000 for the purpose of opening and maintaining a branch to be named after her father, George W. Bruce, at 226 West 42nd Street (demolished). It opened in 1888 with about 7,000 volumes on its shelves. NYFCL partnered with the Children’s Library Association (CLA) assigning a room of the Bruce Library for the exclusive use of children. CLA furnished the books for the children’s library and provided supervision and maintenance of the room. Also in 1888, the Jackson Square branch at 251 West 13th Street was opened (extant, Greenwich Village Historic District); the lot, building, and books were all donated by George W. Vanderbilt. The beginnings of what would be the East Harlem branch was started in a room at 2059 Lexington Avenue, and in February of 1893, the Muhlenberg branch was opened in Chelsea in the Parish House of the Church of the Holy Communion at 49 West 20th Street. In 1860, Field was among the founders and initial benefactors of the first women’s library in New York, located at New York University, an enterprise also supported by Horace Greely, Henry Ward Beecher, and Peter Cooper. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Founded in 1754, New York City’s oldest library is the New York Society Library. Still a private library to this day, it has a storied history that crosses four centuries and includes a full lifetime – 81 years – in Greenwich Village. For part of this time, the New York Society Library was located in a now-demolished building at 109 University Place.

New York Society Library at 67 University Place, later 109 University Place, 1893 In 1754, there was no library in New York. But six individuals came together in that year to create a library which “would be very useful as well as ornamental to the City.” The setup: anyone could join, and joining gave one the ability to check out a broad range of books, or enjoy books on-site. Books included fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and reference books. The library originally occupied one room in the old City Hall at 26 Wall Street, which eventually came to be known as Federal Hall after George Washington’s inauguration there in 1789. It was called “the City Library” until the New York Public Library was founded in 1895. In 1795, with a catalog of 5,000 books, the NY Society Library finally moved out of Federal Hall to 33 Nassau Street, where it hosted the likes of Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper. In 1840 the Society moved to Leonard Street and Broadway, where Henry David Thoreau and John James Audubon were members. In that space, they combined with the New York Athenaeum, a literary and scientific club of the day. As the library’s collection increased to thirty-five thousand volumes by 1856, it became necessary to build a larger building.

New York Society Library, 109 University Place, post-1933 And so in 1856, the New York Library Society moved to Greenwich Village. It built and took up residence in a beautiful building located at 67 University Place between 12th and 13th Streets. The street numbers were changed in 1895, and 67 University Place became 109 University Place. Here the library remained for eighty-one years, until 1937. In 1937, the library moved out and uptown again, to its current location. Sadly, their magnificent building on University Place was demolished, and in 1940 was replaced with the Art Deco apartment building found there today. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

In 1973, The New York Times reported that Mary Agnes Miller, a resident of the Devonshire House, left her entire inherited estate to the New York Public Library. This was the largest individual donation the library had received in a decade. According to the article, Miller was a poet and writer of children’s stories, and lived in a basement apartment at 28 East 10th Street. Her sister, Jean Wallace Miller, had also lived at the Devonshire House and worked as a Braille transcriber of Romance language books for the NYPL. Jean Miller passed away in 1970. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Ottendorfer branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, 1917 The New York Free Circulating Library was established to serve every New Yorker, especially the poor, and to allow them to not only read a wide range of literature but bring it home and share it with their families. New York’s very first free circulating library began in a sewing class at Greenwich Village’s Grace Church, where a teacher sought to provide her students with substantive reading material rather than the ubiquitous sensational tabloids which frequently occupied them. In 1879, the Grace Church teacher and a coterie of other women and teachers started a reading room at 127 East 13th Street, a non-extant building just east of Fourth Avenue in the East Village. Though initially open only two hours a week and containing only 500 books, the free public reading room was so popular there were often lines around the block, and as few as two books were left at the end of a session. Within a year, the library’s collection increased to 1,200 volumes purely from donations, and patrons ranged from children to 70-year-old men.

Bond Street branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, 1917 The New York Free Circulating Library (NYFCL) was officially incorporated in 1880, and by the beginning of the 20th century it had begun to participate in merger negotiations with the newly-formed New York Public Library. In 1901, the NYFCL’s 1.6 million volumes and 11 branches - including Bond Street, Ottendorfer, and Jackson Square - were absorbed into the NYPL. This significantly increased the breadth and reach of the public library system.

A twelve-story NYU residence hall is now located at this site. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .