Yorkville Library
222 East 79th Street | Lenox Hill | built 1902
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1901
Carnegie's $5.2 million offer leads to James Brown Lord's commission for the Yorkville branch
On March 12, 1901, Andrew Carnegie offered New York $5.2 million for free circulating libraries, on condition that the city supply land and upkeep. Three architectural firms were chosen for the work. James Brown Lord, who had designed the Bloomingdale Branch, was given the Yorkville Library on East 79th Street, a limestone building that cost Carnegie $70,000 with equipment.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1902
At the dedication, Carnegie's boyhood vow to found a library is retold in his absence
About 300 people attended the dedication on December 13, 1902. The New York Public Library's director, Billings, told the crowd of Carnegie's boyhood promise that if he ever had the money he would found a public library, though he joked that a Scotchman might not make a vow. Carnegie's physician had forbidden him to attend, and architect Lord had died before the building was completed.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1902
Lord gives the library a Palladian limestone facade with lion-head keystones
The Landmarks Preservation Commission called the Yorkville Library one of the city's most elegant adaptations of the Palladian style. Lord divided the limestone front into three bays, with round arches at street level topped by lion-head keystones, a Greek fret belt course, Ionic columns between the upper windows, and a balustraded cornice.
“Lion-heads, a popular motif at the turn of the century, emphasize the keystones of the arches.”
- 1902
A German-language collection serves Yorkville's Germans, and the branch's patronage quadruples
When the building opened, its third floor held a German-language collection for the neighborhood's large German population. In the first year after the branch moved from its storefront at Second Avenue and 79th Street, its patronage rose from 12,000 to 49,000 and circulation roughly tripled to 180,000.
“Originally, the building had a German-language collection on the third floor to cater to Yorkville's large German population.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1902
The city's first Carnegie library opens on East 79th Street
Designed by James Brown Lord, the Yorkville branch of the New York Public Library opened on December 15, 1902. It was the first of the city's Carnegie libraries to be completed. The building became a city landmark on January 24, 1967, and joined the National Register in 1982.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1916
Schoolchildren turn East 79th Street into Stratford, 1610, for a Shakespeare festival
In May 1916, pupils of Public School 53, from kindergarten through eighth grade, staged a Shakespearean festival in front of the library. The street became an outskirts-of-Stratford scene in the year 1610, with a play and the traditional spring dances of the time, as the newspapers described it.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1918
Tomas Masaryk researches Czechoslovak independence at the library
Future Czechoslovak president Tomas Masaryk uses the Yorkville branch to conduct research supporting the case for an independent Czechoslovakia. His work at the library feeds into the movement that leads to Czechoslovakia's founding in October 1918, linking the Carnegie building to a foreign nation's birth.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1960
The library closes for its first major repairs, a $155,000 job, and a bookmobile serves the branch
The first major repairs in the building's history closed the library in 1960. The $155,000 project refurbished the stacks, furniture, roof and mechanical systems. While work went on, the collection was moved to a bookmobile.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1967
The city designates the library a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Yorkville branch a New York City landmark, recognizing James Brown Lord's Italian Renaissance design as the city's first completed Carnegie library building. The designation protects the limestone facade as the surrounding blocks continue to change.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
The library is added to the National Register of Historic Places
Fifteen years after the city designated the branch a landmark, the building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It remains a library, as it has been since December 1902.
“…the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
The library reopens after a Charles Gwathmey renovation
Closed since February 1986, the Yorkville branch reopens after an interior renovation designed by architect Charles Gwathmey. The $750,000 project, funded jointly by a donation from the Rose family and the city, adds air conditioning, new furniture and lighting while leaving Lord's limestone facade untouched.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Yorkville LibraryWikipedia
- The 1902 Yorkville Library -- 222-224 East 79th StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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