| Date: Built between 1898 and 1911.
Architects: Carrère & Hastings.
NYPL in History: The initial funds for the NYPL were provided
by governor Samuel Tilden, who bequeathed $2.4 million to, "establish
and maintain a free library and reading room in the city of New
York." Construction would eventually cost $9 million to complete.
When the library opened in 1911, one of the first books requested
was N. I. Grot's Nravstvennye idealy nashego vremeni (Ethical
Ideas of Our Time), a study of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy.
NYPL Today: The NYPL is one of the foremost research libraries
in the United States, attracting scholars from around the world.
It's also a popular tourist destination, hosting permanent and temporary
exhibitions of manuscripts, photos, and miscellany -- such as the
original stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milne's Winnie the
Pooh stories.
Address: 5th Avenue and 42nd Street
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