331 East 10th Street | Block : 404 | Lot #39

Description & Building Alterations

The Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library is one of the earliest branches commissioned by Andrew Carnegie. It was designed by the nationally known firm, McKim, Mead & White, who was responsible for many classically influenced buildings in New York City and twelve other Carnegie branch libraries. Andrew Carnegie funded 67 local libraries in New York City, most of which were designed by the city’s top architecture firms. McKim, Mead and White designed thirteen libraries. This building was designated a New York City Landmark in May of 1998.

Constructed in 1904 in the Classical Revival Style, the building’s three story, three-bay wide limestone and granite facade features rusticated piers from the ground level to the cornice, which consists of dentils and an ornamented frieze. Each story is separated by a belt course. On the second level, the windows are topped with decorated tympanums and surrounded with rounded arches that are repeated on the ground level. At the center of the tympanums is the seal of the City of New York , flanked by colophones of the Aldine Press of Venice and the Christophe Plantin Press of Antwerp.