Low Memorial Library
535 West 116th Street | also 530 West 120th Street | Morningside Heights | built 1901
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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.
- 1895
Seth Low gives $1 million for a library in memory of his father
Columbia president Seth Low donated $1 million in 1895 to build the university's central library, named for his father, the merchant Abiel Abbot Low. Charles Follen McKim designed the domed Neoclassical building on a Greek-cross plan, and it was finished in 1897. It served as the main library until Butler Library opened in 1934, then became administrative offices while keeping its name.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1895
McKim and Columbia's architecture chief argue over how to build the dome, and a brick one wins
Charles McKim first planned a concrete dome on iron trusses, but architecture department head William Robert Ware said it would not be a real dome. McKim then offered a Guastavino tile dome, and the Norcross Brothers countered with an unreinforced concrete design. The city delayed the permit until November 1895, and with winter near the architects settled on brick with a metal-lath and plaster interior and a limestone exterior.
“Consequently, the dome was made of brick with an inner surface of metal lath and plaster, and a limestone exterior…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1897
Columbia opens its Morningside campus with a ceremony in Low's reading room, where Seth Low announces his resignation
The new campus opened on October 4, 1897, with a modest ceremony in the reading room of the library, where Seth Low announced that he was resigning. The building was far from finished: its power plant and mechanical systems were not yet running and final details were still going in through 1898. From day one it served as both library, with room for 450,000 volumes in its stacks, and the university's administrative office.
“The opening was marked with a small ceremony in the library's reading room, during which Seth Low announced his resignation…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1898
A 500-pound artificial moon hangs under the rotunda dome so students can read by moonlight
Scientific American described Low's "artificial moon" in 1898: a seven-foot white ball suspended from the center of the dome and lit by spotlights hidden in the upper galleries, so it glowed against a dome painted dark blue like the night sky. The carbon-filament bulbs lasted only two and a half hours, so the filaments were replaced daily and the moon shone just from 5 to 7 p.m. It came down in January 1965 during a renovation.
Source: college.columbia.edu
- 1903
Daniel Chester French's Alma Mater sculpture is installed on the library steps
In 1903 sculptor Daniel Chester French's bronze figure Alma Mater was placed on the front steps of Low Memorial Library. The seated figure, holding a scepter and an open book, was designed to personify Columbia University to everyone climbing the library's grand staircase.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1920
Amelia Earhart reportedly takes in the air at the top of Low's double dome
Low's outer dome is the largest of its kind in the United States, built of limestone-covered brick, 135 feet high and 100 feet wide. A 70-foot plaster-and-iron dome sits inside it, and stairs between the two lead to the roof. Visitors once had set hours to go up, and aviator Amelia Earhart is remembered for enjoying the air there in 1920. The dome is no longer open to visitors.
Source: college.columbia.edu
- 1934
Low Library is converted into administrative offices
By the 1920s Columbia's book collection had grown past 800,000 volumes and outgrown Low's reading room. On November 30, 1934, the university dedicated a new main library, South Hall, later renamed Butler Library, and converted Low Memorial Library into administrative offices.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1935
Low's reading-room furniture is loaned to Union College after the library's books move out
When most of the books left Low for the new South Hall in the early 1930s, the custom McKim, Mead & White tables and bookshelves ended up in the basement. In 1935 Dixon Ryan Fox, a Columbia history professor who had left to become president of Union College, came back to receive an honorary degree and spotted the furniture. Columbia's trustees agreed to lend it, and it stayed in Union's round Nott Memorial library until 1963.
Source: college.columbia.edu
- 1948
Eisenhower becomes the first Columbia president to occupy Low's second-floor office suite
When Seth Low was president he held public office hours in Room 213 but did his own work in Room 307, and the trustees have always met in Room 212. In 1948 Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first Columbia president to occupy the suite of offices on the second floor that presidents still use.
Source: college.columbia.edu
- 1966
The city designates Low Library's exterior a landmark
New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the exterior of Low Memorial Library a landmark on September 20, 1966. The library's domed rotunda interior received its own landmark designation on February 3, 1981, and the building was named a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1968
Protesters take over the president's office in Low Library
During the 1968 Columbia protests, white SDS students who had left Hamilton Hall occupied President Grayson L. Kirk's office in Low Library, though not the rest of the building. A photo of student David Shapiro in sunglasses, smoking a cigar in Kirk's office, was published widely. Police cleared the occupied buildings on April 30, arresting more than 700 people.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1970
A bomb blast damages the throne of Alma Mater on Low's steps
In the early morning of May 15, 1970, someone placed an explosive device on Daniel Chester French's Alma Mater statue during protests over the Cambodian campaign and the Kent State shootings. The blast did significant damage to the statue's throne. The damage remained until 1978, when the sculpture was restored, with the throne recast and the patina refinished.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Low Memorial LibraryWikipedia
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