From the air, the Brooklyn Public Library resembles an open book laid flat at the apex of Grand Army Plaza—its two wings spreading like pages, its spine aligned with Eastern Parkway, its concave entrance embracing the elliptical plaza where Prospect Park begins. This was deliberate: architects Githens & Keally designed the 1941 building as a monument to reading itself, with every architectural gesture reinforcing the metaphor. The fifty-foot portico, framed by gilded columns and crowned by a forty-foot bronze screen, announces that here, in Brooklyn, literature is taken seriously enough to be housed in a temple.
The library's construction was a saga of false starts and Great Depression delays. Raymond Almirall's original Beaux-Arts design, begun in 1912, was abandoned half-finished when funding collapsed. Githens & Keally won a 1935 competition to complete the project in a stripped-down Moderne style that retained only Almirall's footprint. Their solution was elegant: a limestone facade with minimal ornament except at the entrance, where sculpture and gilding concentrate the building's symbolic weight. The concave main facade curves to echo Grand Army Plaza's ellipse, making the library feel like an extension of the public space rather than a barrier to it.
Thomas Hudson Jones designed the bronze screen that dominates the entrance—fifteen gilt relief panels depicting characters and authors from American literature, flanked by fluted columns covered in gold-leaf etchings tracing the evolution of art and science. C. Paul Jennewein contributed additional sculptural elements. Two gilded owl sculptures perch overhead, traditional symbols of wisdom. The triple bronze doors, with their central revolving panel, welcome visitors into a reading room where the democratic promise of free public libraries is made architectural: knowledge belongs to everyone who enters.
The Brooklyn Public Library was designated a New York City landmark in 1997 and joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Today it serves as the central branch for Brooklyn's library system, hosting exhibitions, author events, and the daily rituals of study and discovery. The reading rooms retain their original wood paneling and period light fixtures; the views from the upper floors take in Prospect Park's Long Meadow and the arch of Grand Army Plaza.
"The building resembles an open book as viewed from the air—its wings spreading like pages, its spine aligned with Eastern Parkway."
Approach from Grand Army Plaza at golden hour, when the gilt bronze screen catches the last light and the limestone glows amber. Pass through the bronze doors and feel the temperature drop—libraries are always cooler than the streets they serve. Browse the stacks or simply sit in the main reading room, watching Brooklynites of every description pursue their private educations. Understand that this building, completed as America entered World War II, represents a particular faith: that knowledge, freely shared, is the foundation of democratic life. The open book remains open.