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NYPL's Rose Reading Room To Remain Closed For Six Months
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 17, 2014
Modified Jun 17, 2014
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Jake Dobkin / Gothamist
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 17, 2014
Modified Jun 17, 2014
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(Photo by Jake Dobkin/Gothamist)
Back at the end of May, the New York Public Library's centerpiece, the Rose Reading Room, was closed after a foot-long "chunk of plaster" (one of the rosettes bordering the ceiling) fell. Now it has been announced that the room will remain closed for six months while undergoing inspection and repairs. According to the NYPL:
"The New York Public Library’s Rose Main Reading Room and Bill Blass Catalog Room will be closed for approximately six months to allow for an inspection of the rooms’ plaster ceilings. The inspection follows a piece of plaster falling from the Rose Main Reading Room ceiling in May during closed hours.
All library services provided in the Reading Room and Catalog Room will continue, and the library is opening up additional rooms to accommodate library users. Services previously available in the Reading Room and Catalog Room—including material requests, inter-library loan, library card requests, laptop lending, and more—will be available in the central corridor on the second floor of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
Additional seats will be added throughout the building by opening new rooms and adding seats to existing public spaces. Additional PCs and Wi-Fi will be installed in various rooms."
The hole left in the ceiling, and one of the rosettes. (Courtesy of the NYPL)
The Wall Street Journal reports that the library currently has no estimate on how much the repairs will cost.
The 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. Get a closer look at the reading room, and some other nooks inside the library, here.
Tagged
new york public library
nypl
rose reading room
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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