The Boston Public Library, founded in 1848 as the first large free municipal public library in the United States, moved into its present flagship building on Copley Square in 1895. Designed by the architect Charles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead and White, the building's Renaissance Revival design deliberately evoked the grand civic palazzi of Italian Renaissance cities, with an inscription over its entrance declaring the library free to all. Its interior includes murals by the French painter Puvis de Chavannes and by John Singer Sargent, whose extensive cycle depicting the history of religion occupies the library's third floor, alongside a courtyard modeled on an Italian cloister. The McKim building was expanded in 1972 with an addition by the architect Philip Johnson, built in a contrasting modernist style intended to complement rather than imitate the original structure. The library's Copley Square building is widely regarded as one of the most architecturally significant public library buildings constructed in the United States.
Facts
Building Type Completed Year Classification
Standing Status Building Type
Building Type (category) Connections
Has Building Type
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
Uses Element
Source Boston Public Library - Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Boston Public Library - Wikipedia
Lead paragraph, sentence 1
is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848.
Lead paragraph, sentence 1, place
is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848.
- infobox building_type/type field: Public
Entity description and the lead/infobox of the Wikipedia article
The Boston Public Library (BPL) is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly library of last recourse), meaning all adult residents of the state are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind t
Wikipedia infobox completion_date/completed/built field (1848)
The Boston Public Library (BPL) is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly library of last recourse), meaning all adult residents of the state are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains appr
Uses Element: Granite, Wikipedia article
The Boylston Street Building, designed by Philip Johnson and completed in 1972, reflects similar proportions, and is built of the same pink Milford granite as the McKim Building.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.