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Falling Ceiling Plaster Forces NYPL To Close Rose Reading Room
By
Jen Chung
Published May 31, 2014
Modified May 31, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 31, 2014
Modified May 31, 2014
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The New York Public Library's stunning Rose Reading Room at the main branch is closed for at least a few weeks because a "chunk of plaster" fell from the ceiling. Luckily no one was hurt.
The plaster fell on Wednesday night. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The library’s facilities team is inspecting the reading room, and the adjoining Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, to ensure public safety, said library spokesman Ken Weine. He said the chunk of fallen plaster was about a foot wide."
The NYPL's recently abandoned $300 million renovation plan would have put stacks under the reading room, raising concerns about the reading room's integrity.
The gorgeous room, which is 52 feet high and measures 78 feet by 297 feet, was first opened in 1911 and underwent a $15 million restoration in 1998. Alfred Kazin wrote of the room in his memoir, "There was something about the ... light falling through the great tall windows, the sun burning smooth the tops of the golden tables as if they had been freshly painted—that made me restless with the need to grab up every book, press into every single mind right there on the open shelves."
Tagged
new york public library
nypl
rose reading room
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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