THE BUILDING

The handsome Italianate town house, built in 1917, was designed by Trowbridge and Livingston, the architects of the Wall Street headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co and the St. Regis Sheraton Hotel. The building was converted for use as a library in 1937 with funds provided by Sarah C. Goodhue. It is a New York City landmark.

The Library is filled with art and other objects from all periods of its history, including its original charter granted by George III. Over the years, members have donated paintings by Samuel Lovett Waldo, Adolphe William Bouguereau, and Joseph Wright; graphic works by John James Audubon and Will Barnet; and sculptures by Hiram Powers and Thomas Crawford.

As the Library building was originally a large town house, the reading and study rooms, which occupy parts of the five floors at the front of the building, are well-proportioned and comfortable. Members can easily reach the upper floors in the paneled elevator.

An unusual privilege of membership is access to the stacks, at the back of the building. A guide to the stacks is posted next to the elevator. (The stacks can be accessed from the upper floors, too, but the stack levels do not match the floors at the front of the building). Of the twelve stack levels, nine are open for browsing and retrieving.