1. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (Photograph: Moira Brazier)
    Photograph: Moira Brazier
  2. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (Photograph: Moira Brazier)
    Photograph: Moira Brazier
  3. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (Photograph: Moira Brazier)
    Photograph: Moira Brazier
  4. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (Photograph: Moira Brazier)
    Photograph: Moira Brazier
  5. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (Photograph: Moira Brazier)
    Photograph: Moira Brazier
  • Attractions | Libraries, archives and foundations
  • Midtown West
  • Recommended

Review

New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

4 out of 5 stars
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Time Out says

RECOMMENDED: Full guide to  New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

The century-old main branch of the NYPL is about as regal a setting for reading—either on your laptop or those old dusty things called books—as you’ll find in the city. Two massive Tennessee-marble lions, dubbed Patience and Fortitude, flank the main portal and have become the institution’s mascots. Once inside, check out the cavernous Rose Main Reading Room, spanning almost 300 feet and outfitted with chandeliers and stunning ceiling murals. Though it’s a classy setting in most instances, it’s also where Bill Murray uttered, “Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?” and “Back off, man, I’m a scientist” in Ghostbusters. Free guided tours (at 11am and 2pm) stop at Rose Main Reading Room and the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, which offers free internet access. Lectures, author readings and special exhibitions are definitely worth checking out.

RECOMMENDED: 101 best things do in NYC

Details

Address
Fifth Ave
New York
10036
Cross street:
at 42nd St
Transport:
Subway: B, D, F, M to 42nd St–Bryant Park; 42nd St S, 4, 5, 6, 7 to 42nd St–Grand Central
Opening hours:
Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat 10am–6pm; Tues, Wed 10am–8pm; Sun 1–5pmRose Main Reading Room and Bill Blass Public Catalog Room are temporarily closed
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What’s on

The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures

Hundreds of items have been pulled from the New York Public Library's expansive and centuries-spanning archive to be put on display—many of them for the first time—in a permanent exhibition called "The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures." Inside the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and its beautiful Gottesman Hall, are more than 250 unique and rare items culled from its research centers: the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the Library for the Performing Arts and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The exhibit, which opens to the public on Friday, September 24, spans 4,000 years of history and includes a wide range of history-making pieces, including the only surviving letter from Christoper Columbus announcing his "discovery" of the Americas to King Ferdinand’s court and the first Gutenberg Bible brought over to the Americas. We visited the stunning collection this week to find the top 10 must-see items at the NYPL Treasures exhibit so when you go, you can make sure to see them for yourself: 1. Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence Photograph: Max Touhey / NYPL Only six manuscript versions of the Declaration of Independence are known to survive in the hand of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson made this copy for a friend shortly after the July 4th, 1776, ratification of the Declaration, which announced to the world the American colonies’ political separation from Great Britain. He underlined words t
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