The McKim Building is the main branch of the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...

Copley Square Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to i ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts. The building, described upon its 1895 opening as a "palace for the people", contains the library's research collection, exhibition rooms, and administrative offices. The building includes lavish decorations, a children's room (the first in the nation), and a central courtyard surrounded by an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

d gallery in the manner of a Renaissance

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

. The library regularly displays its rare works, often in exhibits that will combine works on paper, rare books, and works of art. Several galleries in the third floor of the McKim building are maintained for exhibits.

History

Boston Public Library was founded in 1852. The first Boston Public Library location opened in 1854 in two rooms in the Adams School on Mason Street. Because the Mason Street space was small and poorly lit, a new building opened at 55

Boylston Street Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The street begins in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, runs through Back Bay, and e ...

in 1858. It cost $365,000 to build and held 70,000 volumes. By 1880, the Boston Public Library again needed a larger building to accommodate its holdings, and architect

Charles Follen McKim Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the part ...

McKim, Mead, and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), W ...

was chosen to design a new building at the corner of Dartmouth Street and Boylston Street. It opened in 1895 and cost $2.268 million, with a capacity of 2 million books.

Architecture

Charles Follen McKim's design shows influence from a number of architectural precedents. McKim drew explicitly on the

Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

(designed by

Henri Labrouste Pierre-François-Henri Labrouste () (11 May 1801 – 24 June 1875) was a French architect from the famous École des Beaux-Arts school of architecture. After a six-year stay in Rome, Labrouste established an architectural training worksh ...

, built 1845 to 1851) for the general arrangement of the facade that fronts on

, but his detailing of that facade's arcaded windows owes a clear debt to the side elevations of

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...

Tempio Malatestiano The Tempio Malatestiano ( it, Malatesta Temple) is the unfinished cathedral church of Rimini, Italy. Officially named for St. Francis, it takes the popular name from Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who commissioned its reconstruction by the fa ...

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

. The open-air courtyard at the center of the building is based closely on that of the 16th-century

Palazzo della Cancelleria The Palazzo della Cancelleria (Palace of the Chancellery, referring to the former Apostolic Chancery of the Pope) is a Renaissance palace in Rome, Italy, situated between the present Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Campo de' Fiori, in the rion ...

in Rome; in its center is a copy of the, once controversial, statue

Bacchante and Infant Faun ''Bacchante and Infant Faun'' is a bronze sculpture modeled by American artist Frederick William MacMonnies in Paris in 1893–1894. The original bronze cast, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ("The Met"), was produced in 1894 ...

one of the most well-known works by

Frederick William Macmonnies Frederick William MacMonnies (September 28, 1863 – March 22, 1937) was the best known expatriate American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school, as successful and lauded in France as he was in the United States. He was also a highly accomplishe ...

. McKim also exploited up-to-date building technology, as the library represents one of the first major applications, in the United States, of the system of thin tile vaults (or

catalan vault The Catalan vault ( ca, volta catalana), also called thin-tile vault, Catalan turn, Catalan arch, boveda ceiling (Spanish ''bóveda'' 'vault'), or timbrel vault, is a type of low brickwork arch forming a vaulted ceiling that often supports a floor ...

s) exported from the Mediterranean architectural tradition by the

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the El Carche comarca in Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance language also known as Catal ...

Rafael Guastavino Rafael Guastavino Moreno (; March 1, 1842 February 1, 1908) was a Spanish building engineer and builder who immigrated to the United States in 1881; his career for the next three decades was based in New York City. Based on the Catalan vault, ...

. Seven different types of Guastavino vaulting can be seen in the library. Significantly, the ceramic tile patterns are exposed to view on the interior, while all previous projects by Guastavino Sr. covered the vaults with plaster. The center entrance consists of three arches flanked by large sconces. Within each arch are sets of bronze doors by

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture '' The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monum ...

added in 1904, which depict left to right, low-relief allegories of Music and Poetry; Knowledge and Wisdom; and Truth and Romance. Beneath the figure of Music is a quote from '' Arcades'' by Milton ''Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie, to lull the daughters of Necessity, And keep unsteady Nature to her law.'' Beneath Poetry is the inscription ''True Poetry is Like the Loadstone Which Both Attracts the Needle and Supplies it With Magnetic Power''. The Knowledge door contains a quote from Proverbs 24:3: ''By knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all pleasant and precious riches''; the Wisdom door states ''There is in Wisdom a spirit subtil, clear in utterance, loving what is good, pure, stedfast''. On the Truth door is the inscription ''Truth is The Strength and The Kingdom and The Power and the Majesty of all Ages A Romance to Rede and Drive the Night'' and the Romance door states ''Away from me thought it Better Play than Either at Chesse or Tables''. Flanking the entry are allegorical representations of ''Science'', to the south and ''Art'', on the north, completed by

Bela Pratt Bela Lyon Pratt (December 11, 1867 – May 18, 1917) was an American sculptor from Connecticut. Life Pratt was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Sarah (Whittlesey) and George Pratt, a Yale-educated lawyer. His maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittl ...

in 1912. On the panels above the arches are seals of Massachusetts, the Library and the city of Boston. The McKim building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1973, was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in 1986 for its architectural and historical significance, given Boston Landmark status by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2000. It was the first major Beaux Arts building in the United States, and it was also the first large-scale urban library building in the nation.

Murals

Mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...

s include a recently restored mural cycle by

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

on the theme of ''The Triumph of Religion'' that is considered among the artist's masterworks;

Edwin Austin Abbey Edwin Austin Abbey (April 1, 1852August 1, 1911) was an American muralist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings ...

's most famous work, a series of murals which depict the Grail legend; and paintings of the Muses of Inspiration and allegories of academic subjects by

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Beau ...

. The Puvis murals, which were painted on linen and applied to the library walls using the marouflage technique, are his only murals outside of France.

Monumental inscriptions

McKim chose to have monumental inscriptions, similar to those found on

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

s and monuments in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

, in the

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

on each of the main building's three façades. On the south is inscribed: "MDCCCLII • FOUNDED THROUGH THE MUNIFICENCE AND PUBLIC SPIRIT OF CITIZENS"; on the east: "THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON • BUILT BY THE PEOPLE AND DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING • A.D. MDCCCLXXXVIII"; and on the north: "THE COMMONWEALTH REQUIRES THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE AS THE SAFEGUARD OF ORDER AND LIBERTY". The last quotation has been attributed to the library's Board of Trustees. Another inscription, above the keystone of the central entrance, proclaims: "FREE TO ALL". Below each second-story arched window on the three façades are inscribed lists of the names of great historical writers, artists, scientists, philosophers, and statesmen. A document created in 1939 by Frank N. Jones provides a comprehensive list: https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1680001075 Across Dartmouth Street from the central entrance is a twentieth-century monument to the Lebanese-born poet and philosopher

Gibran Khalil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...

, or Kahlil Gibran (as he is usually referred to in English) who as a young immigrant educated himself in the Boston Public Library. The monument's inscription responds to the McKim building reading "IT WAS IN MY HEART TO HELP A LITTLE, BECAUSE I WAS HELPED MUCH", an excerpt from a letter enclosed with Gibran's generous bequest to the library.

Bates Hall

Bates Hall is named for the library's first great benefactor, Joshua Bates. Boston ''Globe'' writer Sam Allis described "Bates Hall, the great reading room of the BPL, vast and hushed and illuminated with a profusion of green lampshades like fireflies" as one of Boston's "secular spots that are sacred."Allis, Sam (2005): "Holy Hub's hot spots: Fenway Park and other secular spots that are sacred." ''Boston Globe'', December 4, 2005, p. A3 The form of Bates Hall, rectilinear but terminated with a semi-circular

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

on each end, recalls a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

. A series of robust double

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...

s in the ceiling provide a sculptural canopy to the room. The east side has a rhythmic series of arched windows with light buffered by wide overhanging hood on the exterior. Heavy deep green silk velvet drapery installed in 1888, and again in the 1920s and 1950s, was not recreated in the 1993 restoration of the room. The drapery helped to muffle sound and lower light levels.

Research collection

Included in the BPL's research collection are more than 1.7 million rare books and manuscripts. It possesses wide-ranging and important holdings, including medieval manuscripts and

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

, early editions of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

(among which are a number of Shakespeare quartos and the

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

), the

George Ticknor George Ticknor (August 1, 1791 – January 26, 1871) was an American academician and Hispanist, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature. He is known for his scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literature. ...

collection of Spanish literature, a major collection of

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

, records of colonial Boston, the 3,800 volume personal library of

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

, the mathematical and astronomical library of

Nathaniel Bowditch Nathaniel Bowditch (March 26, 1773 – March 16, 1838) was an early American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation. He is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation; his book '' The New American Practical Navi ...

, important manuscript archives on

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

, including the papers of

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he fo ...

, and a major collection of materials on the

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, ...

case. There are large collections of prints, photographs, postcards, and maps. The library, for example, holds one of the major collections of watercolors and drawings by

Thomas Rowlandson Thomas Rowlandson (; 13 July 175721 April 1827) was an English artist and caricaturist of the Georgian Era, noted for his political satire and social observation. A prolific artist and printmaker, Rowlandson produced both individual social an ...

. The library has a special strength in music, and holds the archives of the

Handel and Haydn Society The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest-serving suc ...

, scores from the estate of

Serge Koussevitzky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevi ...

, and the papers of the important American composer Walter Piston.

Image gallery

Image:2387493913 CopleySq.jpg, Cornerstone laying, 1888 Image:2387501459 CopleySq.jpg, Under construction, 1889 Image:Boston Public Library Plan.jpg, First floor plan Image:2387539345 CopleySq.jpg, Under construction, 1890 Image:Boston Public Library, Bates Hall, Copley Square.jpg, Bates Hall in the late 19th century Image:McKim Building.jpg, Exterior view Image:Boston Public Library courtyard2.jpg, Courtyard looking north with the

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tow ...

of Old South Church in the background. Image:Boston Public Library exterior.jpg, Early postcard Image:2589548123 CopleySq.jpg, View west across Copley Square, 1920 Image:Sir Henry Vane by Frederick William MacMonnies, Boston Public Library.jpg, Henry Vane in the vestibule Image:Detail, Daniel Chester French's 1904 Boston Public Library Bronze Door, "Knowledge" (Boston, MA).jpg, Detail of the ''Knowledge'' door Image:SciencePersonificationBoston.jpg, Detail of ''Science'' Image:BPLcourt3.JPG, ''Dancing Bacchante and Infant Faun,'' ca.2006. Image:BostonCopleySquareBPLVattermare26June07.jpg, Main Entrance with ''Arts'' in 2007 File:Boston Public Library entrance.jpg, Entrance stairway, ca. 2010 File:Boston Public Library main stairs McKim 07092014.jpg, View down the entrance stairway in 2014 Image:Status_of_Science,_Boston_Public_Library,_Boston_MA.jpg, Detail of ''Science'' in 2014 File:Boston Public Library's McKim Building at Night.jpg, Night view looking southwest

Notes

External links

The Boston Public Library

architectural images

Photos of the Boston Public Library

Trustees' McKim Construction Photos
The Boston Public Library's McKim Construction Photos on Flickr.com * City of Boston
Landmarks CommissionBoston Public Library Study Report
2000 {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Beaux-Arts architecture in Massachusetts

McKim Building The McKim Building is the main branch of the Boston Public Library at Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, described upon its 1895 opening as a "palace for the people", contains the library's research collection, exhibition rooms ...

Public Library, Mckim Building, Boston Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts Public Library, Mckim Building, Boston Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Library buildings completed in 1895 McKim, Mead & White buildings National Historic Landmarks in Boston National Register of Historic Places in Boston Organizations established in 1848 Public libraries in Massachusetts 1895 establishments in Massachusetts