Tag: Architecture

A New Entry in the World’s Most Beautiful Libraries Category: Vennesla Library and Cultural Center

Welcome to the newly renovated Vennesla Library and Cultural Center in Vennesla, Norway.Norwegian architecture firm Helen & Hard have created a remarkable space by combining an existing community house, learning center, and public space. The result is, among other things, a  sanctuary for the printed word. The clean green design and open space are as an inviting a space as a community can hope for.Nestled within this vast openness are private study spaces at the end of each aisle. As libraries continue to operate, here at home and in many places around the world, under extreme financial and political pressure it...

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Travel Writers Conjure Up "Magical Libraries"

Boston Copley Public Library. Boston, MA.Travel writers and adventurers Michelle Enemark and Dylan Thuras have assembled a gorgeous gallery of photographs depicting the world's most magnificent libraries on their website, Curious Expeditions. The pictures are from a wide variety of sources, including reader contributions, and selections show that glorious groves of books are in full bloom worldwide. The gallery, Librophiliac Love Letter, proclaims: "Row after row, shelf after shelf, there is nothing more magical than a beautiful old library."Book Patrol has added a few quotations to enhance your viewing pleasure. Some lyrics to accompany what Goethe called the "frozen music"...

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The Great Art Deco-Designed Brooklyn Central Library In Vintage Photos

Mount Prospect Park, 1939.New [main branch of Brooklyn Public] Library is in [far right] background.Image courtesy of BPL.Brooklyn Public Library in New York City was established in 1896. Between 1901 and 1923, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $1.6 million toward the development of twenty one branches.January 13, 1941. Entrance, Brooklyn Public Library (Ingersoll Memorial),Prospect Park Plaza, New York. Acetate negative by Samuel H. Gottscho.Ground was broken for a Brooklyn central library on Prospect Park Plaza (Grand Army Plaza) in 1912. The design of the original architect, Cornell-educated and Beaux-Arts-trained Raymond Almirall, called for a domed, four-story Beaux Arts abomination. Spiraling cost...

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