An Open Book
By design, BPL’s Central Library has always been an open book. Now patrons can step into a multi-storied journey through the building designed to mimic the pristine pages of a new book with our recently-launched Central Library Audio Tour. From the Art Deco styling of the limestone façade to the aborted subway platform many floors below, you can take our audio tour with you as you wander around our historic building. If this legendary listen leaves you craving more, check out the reads below.
Style of the Period
The most striking features of Central Library’s exterior are the Art Moderne details and the golden figures that glisten in the sun. The architects and artisans responsible for these design elements captured the zeitgeist of the period: Art Moderne style was about speed, sleekness, and sophistication, inspired by the popularization of the motor car. Imagine a fast-talking Fitzgerald character, the sultry silhouette of a leading lady on the silver screen, and the precision of the Industrial Revolution forged into stone and steel. Central Library could have been a more modest building, but the designers made a bold statement with the library you see today.
Anyone curious about the influences that informed Central’s design should flip through New York Deco by Richard Berenholtz. This stunning homage to two dashing decades features images of each masterpiece juxtaposed with prose and poetry from some of the era’s icons. For example, Artist Hildreth Meiere’s mosaic allusion to the sun in full sparkle atop the Irving Trust Building is illuminated by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s words: “I began to like New York, the racy adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye.”
While Brooklyn might have been second string to the architectural innovation of Manhattan at the time, Central Library’s nod to a fast future for the borough was a sign of things to come.
Authenticity Amidst Gentrification
Central Library sits at the end of the legendary Eastern Parkway, the world’s first parkway. Today, a trip down this grand street reveals an urban path adorned with trees, street vendors, bikers, and strollers. But more striking is the contrast of buildings old and new, revealing a history of progress and profit. The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York by Suleiman Osman addresses the evolution of Brooklyn, from people of modest means to the privileged one percent, as million-dollar brownstones have transformed the landscape. Osman’s book delves into the nostalgic allure and authenticity represented in the foundations of stalwart cultural institutions like Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden while also pointing out that the same drive for pre-war glory fuels homogenization, exclusion, and class struggle.
The post-war period in Brooklyn witnessed a new urbanization that continues to this day, as Brooklyn keeps on building. The new eagle-eyed inhabitants hailing from Manhattan and suburbs across the country laid claim to what they deemed a new urban experience, forged in their image and ideals. Some of these new neighbors fancied themselves reformers, still starry-eyed from the lingering stardust and dreams of the 1960s and the greed of the 1980s.
Let us look forward again as we turn another page.
Library Fantasy
Infinite realities unfold for the protagonist of the The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I consider this selection the Everything Everywhere All at Once title; Haig’s philosophical and metaphysical romp through space and time. The protagonist Nora Seed finds herself the main character of every book in this alternate reality, as she tries to escape the mundanity of her life and realize her full potential in a different story. Nora’s library of possibility is an afterworld she accesses by a desperate act. She is reborn as a “slider,” an adventurer careening line by line through the multiverse.
The Midnight Library’s premise presents an endless series of what-ifs. What if Nora took a different career path, lived in a different place, didn’t meet a certain person, or loved someone else? The treasure in the tale is the realization that no matter what you do, you can’t escape the eternal questions about our existence. A search for meaning is at the heart of our relationship with libraries, too. Libraries can help us find ourselves in facts or in fantasy; they are critical to discovery.
Take Our Self-Guided Tour
Libraries take up space at the end of our block and at the center of our hearts. The books and the building represent our mission to promote equality, curiosity, and the continuous quest for knowledge, stack by stack and brick by brick.
We invite you to take the Central Library Audio Tour to discover more about our beloved building, and check out the related book list here.
LaCresha Neal is Welcome Services Coordinator at the Central Library. She loves art, altruism, and information.
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