March 21-28, 1918
“Left off books at public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.” That was Kate Roosevelt’s first stop on Friday, March 21, 1918. She had been a regular patron at the New York Public Library since its grand opening was held on May 23, 1911.Now nearly seven years-old, she couldn’t imagine Fifth Avenue without this beautiful monument to literacy that dominated a double block right in the middle of mid-town Manhattan, but some old-timers remembered the street quite differently. The area was once a residential enclave populated by the mansions of rich industrialists, politicians and bankers. It was also the site of the old Croton Distributing Reservoir that had provided the city with water from the 1840s through the 1880s.
New York Public Library under Construction, 1906
Before construction of the library could begin, the reservoir had to be dismantled and the building site prepared. It took five hundred workers, two years to complete the job. In 1902, the cornerstone was finally laid. The firm of Carrere and Hastings was chosen to design the Beaux Arts-style library. A competition had been held to select the architects. McKim, Mead and White had just completed plans for the Boston Public Library and Ernest Flagg, who designed the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. were among the contenders.
Carrere and Hastings working on plans for library, 1905
The winners, Carrere and Hastings’ plan called for a terraced, horizontal, three-story structure organized around a central circulating core; a grand entry hall; a double staircase; two courtyards and very large reading room. An arched-marble corridor behind the entrance hall is reportedly the longest hallway in the world, outside of the Vatican. Coffered ceilings with murals of a colorful, cloudy sky and massive windows provide an open feeling.
Opening Day, May 23, 1911
Seventy-five miles of shelves were installed to house the immense collection of more than one million books. The exterior of the library is made of white Vermont marble and is guarded over by identical sentinels. The famous Lions have greeted visitors since opening day when between thirty and fifty thousand helped to dedicate the new library and the first book entitled, Ethical Ideas of Our Time: A Study of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy was checked out.
Postcard
In 1918, when Kate Roosevelt walked up the wide, stone steps to drop off her books, the larger-than-life lions that welcomed her were named Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after the New York Library founders, John Jacob Astor and James Lenox. At one time, even though they are unmistakably male, the lions were named Lady Astor and Lord Lenox. In 1930, they were re-named, Patience and Fortitude by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, two qualities he felt New Yorkers would need to survive the Great Depression.
Edward Clark Potter (middle) in His Studio
Whatever their names, the New York Public Library Lions are legendary pieces of artwork. When Edward Clark Potter was given the commission to sculpt two flanking, unspecified-species for the library’s main branch in 1910, he was bombarded with suggestions. Kate’s cousin, former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was an avid hunter said he’d like to see side-by-side bison. A small group suggested beavers because John Jacob Astor’s family made their fortune in selling beaver pelts. The sculptor settled on lions, six feet by twelve feet in size to set as sentries on the north and south sides of the steps. When the plaster proto-types were unveiled, they were met with some criticism. Public sculptures and public criticism are nothing new. Civic sculpture became popular after the Civil War, giving states a sense of territorial pride. Potter’s portfolio included equestrian monuments, like the one to General Grant in Philadelphia. He was known as an “animalier,” preferring to work with wildlife rather than the human anatomy. He was recommended for the commission by a colleague, the world-famous sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
Piccirilli Studio Mott Haven Bronx
The New York Public Library Lions were a collaboration. While Potter used clay to sculpt the contours of the animals and later a plaster cast, the actual carving was done at the Piccirilli Family’s studio in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. Using special cutting tools, the Tuscany-born artists, patriarch, Guiseppe Piccirilli and his six sons chiseled the lions out of the same pink Tennessee marble used for the Lincoln Memorial and Grand Central Station.
Potter received eight thousand dollars and credit for the work. The Piccirillis were paid five thousand dollars. Easily identified as their work, they rarely signed their names to their masterpieces.
Although now in the twenty-first century, the artistry of the lions is appreciated, it was not unanimous in 1911 when they were unveiled. The New York Times reported on the public’s reaction. Letters to the editor said that the “lions looked too tame; they were mealy-mouthed; complacent and squash-faced.” One critic compared their appearance to a cross between a hippopotamus and a cow. Some said their manes were too hairy and city officials hired a sculptor to chip away at the marble to give them a shorter haircut.
A Work in Progress
Decades of pigeon droppings and city soot took a toll. In 2004, New York paid one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars to steam-clean and scrub the lions with a toothbrush and fill-in cracks in the marble with mortar. The polishing project took two weeks to complete, giving the regal relics a bright future.
Sharon Hazard’s Dowager’s Diary appears on Thursday.
On WAT-CAST, listen to Sharon talk about the series.
Photo One:
New York Public Library
Library of Congress
Photo Two:
New York Public Library under Construction, 1906
Public Domain
Photo Three:
Carrere and Hastings working on plans for library, 1905
NYPL Digital Collection
Photo Four:
Opening Day, May 23, 1911
Photo Five:
New York Public Library
Postcard
Photo Six:
Edward Clark Potter in His Studio
NYPL Digital Collection
Photo Seven:
Piccirilli Studio Mott Haven Bronx
Public Domain
Photo Eight:
A Work in Progress
NYPL Digital Collection
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