New York Public Library, 5th Avenue and 42nd Street

Bird's-eye view of New York Public Library, Main Branch located at 5th Avenue, between West 40th Street and West 42nd Street, with Bryant Park in the back, Manhattan. September 1959. Photographer Angelo Rizzuto (1906-1967). Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City, with nearly 53 million items and 92 locations. It is a private, nonprofit corporation, operating with both private and public financing.

The New York Public Library Main Branch, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, at at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system. It is located directly east of Bryant Park, on the site of the old Croton Reservoir. Construction began in 1900 and the Library opened on May 23, 1911. More: New York in the 1950s ►

Lower Manhattan, looking south from 42nd Street, showing the Croton Reservoir and the Crystal Palace, built for the Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations, 1853/1854.