Bronx Library Center

310 East Kingsbridge Road | also 294 East Kingsbridge Road | Fordham | built 2004

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1999

    A Con Edison building on the future library site closes

    Before the library, this lot around the corner from the old Carnegie branch held a Con Edison building, which closed in 1999. Its parts were mostly recycled or sold as scrap to pay for the demolition, and most of the demolition material was reused off site. The New York Public Library needed the larger parcel for a much bigger Bronx building.

    “Around the corner from the old Carnegie library was the site of a Con Edison building that closed in 1999…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 2001

    The New York Public Library acquires the site for a new central Bronx library

    After a long fund-raising drive in the late 1990s, with money from the New York State Legislature and funds allocated by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the New York Public Library bought the Kingsbridge Road site in 2001. The borough's main branch, the Fordham Library Center on Bainbridge Avenue, had opened in 1923 and had not been renovated since 1956.

    “…the New York Public Library acquired the site for the new library in 2001…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2006

    January

    The Bronx Library Center opens, replacing the old Fordham branch

    The old Fordham Library Center shut in November 2005, and two months later the new center opened just around the corner as the borough's central and largest library. At 78,000 square feet it has three times the space of its predecessor. Its 300,000-plus volumes include the library system's main collection of works on Hispanic, Latino and Puerto Rican heritage.

    “The Fordham Library Center officially closed its doors to the public in November 2005. Two months later the Bronx Library Center opened right around the corner.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2006

    Dattner Architects build the city's first green library, with a swooping roof

    Designed by Dattner Architects under Richard Dattner and costing about $50 million, the steel-framed library is New York City's first green library, certified LEED Silver. A four-story glass curtain wall cantilevers from the front, the rest is clad in Minnesota red granite, and the sloping aluminum roof, lined with maple inside, allows a partial fifth floor within the setback rules. About 20 percent of its materials are recycled.

    “…it is the first "green" library in New York City with LEED Silver certification…”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 8 buildings with stories in Fordham