The Library Moves Uptown: 70 Years at 79th Street (1937-2007)

December 15, 2007-November 1, 2008

Curated by Harriet Shapiro

In 1936, the Library, then located downtown on University Place, purchased 53 East 79th Street from Mrs. John Shillito Rogers. Most of the next year was devoted to a massive process of sorting, packing, cleaning, and renovation to get the building ready to move into and the books and holdings ready to move. Business began in the new building in July, but our new home was officially opened in December 1937.

This exhibition took viewers back to the early days in the Library's new home with a selection of classic books originally published in 1937, along with memorabilia about the move such as letters and newspaper clippings, and photographs and documents on the important political and cultural events of the year in New York City and beyond. Historic photographs show the building when it was a townhouse and flash back to its construction in 1917, ninety years ago.

December 15, 1937

from Books and People by Marion King, Assistant Librarian 1907-1953

"Change was inevitable, and desirable. Too long the Library had stood for the old-world and quaint in its little backwater of University Place, an eighty-year stay that had been almost twice the length of any of its previous occupancies. The vitality of that enterprise which had started as an idea with six young New Yorkers in 1754 and had survived the Revolution and six succeeding wars, accumulating friends and funds all along the way, was worthy of the renewal which good stewardship had vouchsafed it three times in the past, and now planned again.

But change impending brings unease to hearts that know the tried and dear will never afterward be the same, and it was with relief that we heard in 1936 that the uncertainty at least was over. The Board had bought the 42.2 foot, five story house of Mrs. John Shillito Rogers at 53 East Seventy-ninth Street for $175,000 and contracted with Snead and Company of Jersey City for alterations to cost about $108,000 more. The papers printed the news in May. H.R. [librarian Helen Ruskell] and I went up to extract what promise we could from the handsome, impersonal, grey faÁade....

Rents being still well in hand, [we] found comfortable apartments not far off, from which we could walk to work. Gradually the neighborhood came to seem familiar, and we began to feel the pleasure of the bright renaissance."

Library Moves Uptown Exhibition Opening Dec 2007 David Ortiz

The Library's New Home

During the early nineteen-thirties, as the city's population moved uptown, so too did many Library members. The trustees' decision to leave 109 University Place, its home for eighty years, upset some long-time subscribers devoted to the Library and the neighborhood. One member hung crepe on a drawing she made of the University Place faÁade to register grief over the anticipated move. But the Library's future now lay more than sixty blocks north on the rapidly expanding Upper East Side. The Library paid $175,000 for the luxurious former town house of Mr. and Mrs. John Shillito Rogers located at 53 East 79th Street.

The New York architectural firm Trowbridge and Livingston had built the Rogers' home in 1916-17 on the site of two brownstones, numbers 53 and 55. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the building's construction. The New York Times wrote that the exterior of the building "gives an impression of great dignity." Among other notable New York City buildings constructed by Trowbridge and Livingston are the former B. Altman and Company (now home to the Science, Industry and Business Library of the New York Public Library and the CUNY Graduate Center), the J.P. Morgan building at 23 Wall Street and the Hayden Planetarium.

A generous bequest from Sarah Parker Goodhue given to the Library in memory of her husband, Charles Clarkson Goodhue, made the purchase of the Rogers' home possible. Mrs. Goodhue also left her butler $1,000 on condition that he keep a temperance pledge made during her lifetime. Both Mrs. Goodhue and Goodhue Livingston, the architect, share an ancestor in common - General Matthew Clarkson, who was an aide-de-camp to Benedict Arnold during the Revolution. Clarkson's portrait by the American painter Samuel Lovett Waldo hangs on the staircase leading to the second floor Members' Room.

Documenting the Library's Move

Planning and executing the move took months of hard, often back-breaking, work. After reviewing several bids, the Library chose the Franklin Fireproof Warehouses of Brooklyn to move the Library's collection of 150,000 books at a cost of $8,100. (The Library now has 275,000 volumes in its holdings.)

At University Place, "the most ephemeral and trivial fiction was pulled out and sold." Out-of-date science and medical books were offered to the New York Academy of Medicine. Shelf by shelf the books were dusted, vacuumed, placed in boxes, color coded and numbered. Meanwhile at 79th Street, Snead and Company of Jersey City was overseeing the renovation. The firm pioneered the concept of open stacks in twentieth-century library design. The back half of the building was torn out and converted into twelve tiers of metal stacks. Snead and Company's supervisor, a Dickensian figure of great probity, reported regularly on the progress of the reconstruction to Lewis Spencer Morris, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

On December 15, 1937, Mr. Morris welcomed members and guests to the Library's formal opening in its fifth home since the Library first opened its doors in 1754 in the "Library Room" at City Hall. In his remarks he noted that "the building has been remodeled along modern lines but the atmosphere which has so long characterized [this Library] has been retained."

Views of the Library

After the dust from the reconstruction settled, the Library reopened for business. Many downtown members, including Ruth Draper and Norman Thomas, renewed their subscriptions. Among the new uptown members were Mrs. Chester Dale, Edward Steichen and the Oswald Villards, who lived down the block. Miss Hewitt, who had originally held classes on the top floor of this building for the children of the previous owners, John and Catherine Rogers, also joined. Articles in newspapers and The New Yorker brought in additional members. With the move the cost of an annual subscription went up from $12 to $15.

Frank B. Bigelow, who had been Head Librarian at University Place from 1895 to 1937, retired and moved to Amherst, Massachusetts. His successor was Edith Hall Crowell. Helen Ruskell, who had first come to work at University Place in 1920 as a fresh-faced girl, presided at the front loan desk. Marion King, the Assistant Librarian, sat at the smaller desk with a leather armchair beside it to receive members.

Three years after the Library moved uptown, 109 University Place was torn down to make way for an apartment house.

Chairman of the Board Charles G. Berry and Head Librarian Mark Bartlett at the exhibition opening (photo by David Ortiz)

Exhibition designer John Bernstein with Lorna Livingston, descendant of the architect for 53 East 79th Street (photo by David Ortiz)