LuEsther T. Mertz Library
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library is located at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York City. Founded in 1899 and renamed in the 1990s for LuEsther Mertz, it is the United States' largest botanical research library, and the first library whose collection focused exclusively on botany.
The library contains large collections of books relating to botany and horticulture, and are used for studies in fields such as history, anthropology, landscape and building design, architectural history, ethnobotany, economic botany, urban social history, and environmental policy. Its holdings include current scholarly books and serials, as well as many rare and historically important works.
Robert W. Gibson designed the Renaissance Revival style building in 1896; it was finished five years later. The four-story structure, originally known as the Museum Building and later as the Administration Building, has a facade of gray-buff brick with buff terracotta. The sculptural Fountain of Life, as well as a tree-lined avenue called the Tulip Tree Allee, are located outside the front entrance. All three were included as contributing resources when the NYBG was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1967; in 2009 they were made New York City designated landmarks.
History
Establishment
An act of the New York State Legislature, passed in 1891, set aside land within Bronx Park in the north-central part of the Bronx for the creation of the New York Botanical Garden on the condition that a board of directors raise $250,000 for the site. Prominent civic leaders and financiers agreed to match the City's commitment to finance the buildings and improvements. By May 1895, sufficient funds had been raised, but the plans for the NYBG had not been finalized. The Board of Directors then asked landscape architect Calvert Vaux and his partner, Parks Superintendent Samuel Parsons Jr., to consult on site selection.A topographical survey was completed in March 1896. As part of the topographical survey, a three-story museum with of space was planned for the grounds of the NYBG, near the main entrance at Southern Boulevard and Bedford Park Boulevard. It would be the first museum in the U.S. with a collection focused specifically and exclusively on botany. The board selected the museum site for its hilltop location east of the Botanical Garden station of the New York Central Railroad, which made the building easily accessible from other locations. A design contest for the museum was held, attracting firms and architects like Ernest Flagg, William Appleton Potter, N. Le Brun & Sons, Parish & Schroeder, and Clinton & Russell. Robert W. Gibson won the commission and filed building plans with the New York City Department of Buildings in November 1896. In January 1897, the city authorized the NYBG to proceed with construction of the museum.
Construction
By July 1897, construction was delayed due to disputes over whether the presence of the museum and the NYBG conservatory would detract from the naturalistic look of the rest of the garden. The magazine American Architect and Architecture, calling these objections "an unfortunate controversy", reported that the New York City parks commissioners had already hired the respective architects for the museum and conservatory, and were applying for construction funds for both projects. The New York City Board of Estimate again blocked the $500,000 appropriation in mid-September 1897, citing the concerns about the building's aesthetics and possible cost overruns, before approving it at the end of that month. A request for bids was opened, and 12 contractors submitted construction bids the following month, with the John H. Parker Company submitting the least expensive bid. After the city invalidated these bids, another request for proposals was opened. Seven contractors submitted bids, of which Parker's was again the cheapest.A groundbreaking ceremony was held on December 31, 1897, to mark the start of construction. By May 1898, construction had started on the brick walls. By September 1898, according to The New York Times, the steel frame was 75 percent finished and the exterior walls had been built up to the second floor. The city approved the disbursement of another $200,000 in bonds that November. A contract to build the "front central portico" was carried out between July and October 1899. According to a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article in March 1900, the building had "just been completed". The NYBG's contract with John H. Parker ended the next month, with work on the end pavilions' ornamentation being delayed.
After completion
The library initially had 2,500 volumes; in 1899, Columbia College donated another 5,000 from its botanical collection. In April 1901, Wilson & Baillie Manufacturing were contracted to build the fountain at the Museum Building's main entrance, as well as the front approaches and cornice ornamentation.The library's collection grew over the years, and by 1926, an annex was being planned for the Museum Building. However, no progress was made on this proposal, except for the rearrangement of the building's interior. Then in 1958, Eggers & Higgins proposed a $1 million, three-story annex behind the existing structure, with a similar design to the original building. The wing was to include classrooms, conference rooms, offices, and reading rooms. In 1964, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. approved the plan, with the city and NYBG contributing equally toward the cost. The original rear wing behind the central pavilion was destroyed. The annex was dedicated as the Harriet Barnes Pratt Library Wing in late 1965, after a notable NYBG benefactor, and opened in 1966. Additionally, the original building's front staircase and its balustrade and sidewalls were renovated from 1960 to 1961.
The Science and Education Building was built between 1969 and 1972 to a design by William and Geoffrey Platt, and was dedicated to Jeannette Kittredge Watson. By February 1988, the herbarium had taken up all of the vacant space in the original structure, including rooms formerly dedicated to exhibitions. As a result, NYBG officials planned for a four-story expansion to the east of the original building's north wing, set to open in 1991. A three-month restoration of the rotunda was completed in November 1988, and a new orchid terrarium was dedicated. The addition of the northern annex was delayed in 1992, when the NYBG announced that the annex would cost $32 million and be completed in 1994.
A one-story annex to the south, housing the herbarium specimens, was designed by Coe Lee Robinson Roesch and finished in 1994. During the mid-1990s, the library was renamed after LuEsther Mertz, a major NYBG donor. When plans for the northern annex were finalized in 1997, the project was expected to cost $39 million. Polshek Partnership designed the structure, known as the International Plant Science Center. The addition comprised nine new research rooms, herbarium and library space, a new entrance to the basement lecture hall and library and the renovation of in the existing structure. The original building's rotunda was restored as well. Construction started in 1998, and though the expansion was originally supposed to be complete in 2000, the opening was ultimately delayed until 2002. Upon the annex's opening, the library collections and the Steere Herbarium were relocated to it, and the Museum Building was renamed the Library Building.
Design
The original Mertz Library building was designed by Robert W. Gibson; its main facade is long. The side facades, as noted in the building plans, measured on one end and on the other. Designed in the Renaissance Revival style, it consists of a central pavilion topped by a dome, with two side wings. The Mertz Library was built on uneven ground, such that the basement is at the same elevation with the ground to the east, north, and south of the library, while the first floor is level with the ground to the west.The building has four annexes. The International Plant Science Center is located east of the northern wing and faces Southern Boulevard to the north. The Jeannette Kittredge Watson Science and Education Building is located east of the southern wing, while a one-story annex is located to the south. The Harriet Barnes Pratt Library Wing is located behind the original building to the east of the center pavilion.
Facade
The original building's facade consists of buff and gray brick interspersed with terracotta decoration. The windows are largely rectangular, except for those on the second floor, which contains round-arched window openings with balustrades at their bases. The third story consists of a mansard roof with dormer windows corresponding to the vertical architectural bays below them. Those bays are separated by projecting pilasters topped with Corinthian-style pediments. A cornice runs the length of the second story. A glass dome is located over the third-story rotunda, rising above the third floor.On the front facade facing west, the central pavilion has rusticated stone and a pediment supported by four Corinthian columns, which divide the central pavilion into three bays. At the first floor level, there are three sets of doors, one in each bay. The end sections also have pilasters in the Corinthian style. Above the central bay is an entablature containing the seal of New York City, while smaller entablatures with the seals of New York state and the United States are located on the left and right bays. On the third story, above the center bay, there is a cartouche of the New York Botanical Garden. The steps leading to the entrance bays are made of granite, and the sidewalls are made of brick with granite coping. The pavilions on the side also contain service entrances on the first floor, located under an arched transom.
The side and rear facades are similar but contain windows on the basement as well. On the rear side, four window bays on the northern portion are visible from the outside, and the four southernmost window bays are also visible. The remaining window bays cannot be seen from the outside due to the presence of the annexes. There is an entrance to the ground/basement level from the northern portion of the rear facade. The side facades to the north and south were originally five bays wide. On the south side, all five window bays are intact, but a former archway to the basement has been filled in, and a covered passageway from that arch leads to the one-story annex. On the north side, only the westernmost three bays can be seen from the outside, while the eastern two bays have been hidden by the International Plant Science Center.