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Detail of a cross-section of the New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences location. (Courtesy of the New York Public Library)
With news that British architect Norman Foster will "transform" the beloved Fifth Avenue Beaux Arts building of the New York Public Library, one can only be curious about the seven floors of stacks and basement--equivalent of 1.25 million cubic feet--that will be renovated. There are no renderings yet, but there are some clues about the stacks and basement from archival drawings and photographs, courtesy the NYPL.
The stacks (there are 88 miles of shelves at the library!) will be moved to the storage area under Bryant Park. Here are some details about the Bryant Park storage area, which opened in 1991 and will be renovated, too: "There is 6 feet of soil between the top of the extension and the park... Cost $24,000,000 including conveyor systems, microfilm storage vault, lighting, climate control, fire suppression systems, and compact movable shelving... 120,000 square feet linked to the main building by a 120-foot tunnel. There are 40 miles of shelf space under Bryant Park." And in 2006, NewYorkology visited the rarely-open- to-the-public stacks.
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I understand that they have storage vaults that run under 42nd St and under the Grace Building. I heard that they were once flooded after a water main break. That had to be one nasty cleanup.
i was down there once. the vertical conveyor system for delivering books up to the reading room (visible in the first two images) is awesome - in that turn of the 20th century sort of way.
does anyone know why they are renovating the library? it seems so pointless... esp. when the branch libraries are so dumpy, and funds are tight as it is...
But will there be room for the Ark of the Covenant and the Roswell Flying Saucer?
@#4
as far as I understand it they are doing renovations there and moving the collection from the midtown branch (across the street) to the bryant park library, thereby making it a reference and loaner library. this is all an attempt to bring more users in and legitimize it's existence. this library just isn't being used much.
@cga, flynn110 is right--basically the NYPL wants to make the Humanities & Social Sciences branch more accessible to the public. Right now, it's just for research.
Not to be too rude, but I'm confused by the 2nd paragraph, due to some grammatical errors. Did the storage open in 1991 or the stacks? And, which is being renovated. The 2nd paragraph is missing some words and seems to be inconsistent with the first, and I couldn't find any information from your links. Did you get these numbers from anywhere in particular?
By the way, I assume the stacks opened around 1908-1911, so I thought maybe you wrote 1991 instead of 1911, but the part about the new storage unit confused me...
The 1991 reference is to the storage space that lies beneath the park rather than the main Library building. I read it as that the Bryant Park storage space was a extension built near the end of the last century, and officially opened for use in 1991.