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The McKim Building is notable for its perfect proportions,
its classic serenity, its modestly borne and elegance. Its charm lies not only in the
immediate effect of its features - its Copley Square façade, the Entrance Hall, the
Courtyard, the Bates Hall Reading Room, the Sargent Gallery - but in the details that everywhere
make the building a constant source of surprise and aesthetic satisfaction.
Exterior Details
A strong impression of the façade is likely to remain in the mind’s
eye - the sloping red tile roof with its green copper cresting, the magnificent arched
windows, the triple-arched main entrance and its cluster of branching wrought-iron
lanterns. Closer inspection reveals the tablets beneath the window arches, inscribed with
the names of the great masters of art, science, religion and statesmanship; the medallions
representing trade devices of early printers and booksellers in the spandrels of the
window arches, skillfully executed by Domingo Mora; the head of Minerva, the goddess of
wisdom, carved in the central keystone by Mora and Augustus Saint-Gaudens; and, sculpted in
granite over the three entrance arches, the seals of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
the Library, and the City of Boston, by Saint-Gaudens.
The two large statues on the platforms in front of the Library represent
Art and Science. These were sculpted by the Boston artist Bela Pratt and were set in place
in 1912.
The Vestibule
The floors, walls, and vaulted ceiling are of pink Knoxville marble; the floor is inlaid
with patterns of brown Knoxville and Levanto marble. The bronze statue to the left as one
enters is a representation of Sir Harry Vane, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
1636 and 1637, by Frederic MacMonnies.
When entering the vestibule, the visitor faces three sets of bronze doors created by Daniel Chester French and commissioned specifically for the Library. Each door weighs 1500 pounds. The allegorical figures, modeled in low relief, represent Music and Poetry (left), Knowledge and Wisdom (center), and Truth and Romance (right).
The Entrance Hall
The low, broad entrance hall, divided into three aisles by heavy piers of Iowa
sandstone, is of Roman design. The ceiling is vaulted, with domes in the side bays, and is
covered with a marble mosaic. The thirty names lettered in the ceiling are of famous
Bostonians. The floor is of white Georgia marble and is inlaid in the center aisle with
brass inscriptions and symbols of the zodiac.
The Main Staircase
Connecting the Entrance Hall with the main staircase is a deep triumphal arch. The
marble of the steps is ivory gray Echaillon, mottled with fossil shells; that of the walls
is a richly variegated yellow Siena.
The great twin lions, couchant, on pedestals at the turn of the stairs are of
unpolished Siena marble and are the work of Louis Saint-Gaudens. They are memorials to
Massachusetts Civil War infantry regiments, the Second and the Twentieth. The handsome
coffered ceiling is of plaster.
Puvis de Chavannes Gallery
The second floor corridor is known as the Puvis de
Chavannes Gallery after the French artist whose mural paintings decorate the
corridor and the upper portion of the Main Stair Hall.
The Gallery is separated from the main staircase by an arcade of
five arches supported by graceful columns resting on the posts of a low parapet directly
over the stairwell. Like the staircase the arcade is of yellow Siena marble.
Mural Paintings
Covering the entire gallery wall to the left and right of the arched vestibule leading
into Bates Hall is Puvis de Chavannes’ major composition The Muses. Here
the nine muses of Greek mythology are seen hailing a male figure representing the
Genius of Enlightenment amidst the setting of a grove of olive and
laurel.
The Abbey Room
Of particular interest to many visitors is the sumptuous Abbey Room, which
may be entered from the south end of the Chavannes Gallery. The room’s dominating feature is the series of splendid and
richly colored mural paintings The Quest of the Holy
Grail by the American artist, Edwin Austin Abbey. The room, 64 feet long by
33 feet wide, is of
luxurious beauty. The ceiling is remarkable for its heavy ornamental rafters.
The heavy marble doorways leading into Bates Hall and from the Chavannes Gallery are of
rouge antique and Levanto marble. The mantle of the great fireplace in the east wall -
wholly of rouge antique - is exceedingly rich and elaborate. The walls are wainscoted in
dark-colored oak to the level of the murals, and the floors are of Istrian and red Verona
marble.
The Gallery Lobbies
The lobbies at the two ends of the Chavannes Gallery are of interest for their
decorative schemes. Pompeian red is the dominant note at the south end, and the decorative
elements - masks, torches, sea horses, a lyre and floral designs suggest
Pompeii. The Venetian Lobby at the other end includes the domed central portion, the
window alcove (with sea green and sky blue as the chief colors), and the entrance to the
staircase to the Sargent Gallery. The block of stone over the entrance to the Study Room
bears a carving of the traditional Lion of St. Mark. It is from the sixteenth century and
was brought from Venice, probably from an ancient palace.
The wall painting in the lunette over the alcove window represents the marriage of
Venice with the Adriatic Sea. In the niche to the left, the names in gilt are those of the
famous doges of Venice; those in the opposite niche are of celebrated Venetian painters.
Decorations of the domes of the corridor and of the staircase suggest the
glory of Venice at the height of her power. Around the lower circumference of the dome in
the corridor is depicted a line of galleys and the eleven cities which at one time or
another were subjects of Venice. In the gilded dome of the staircase leading to the
Sargent Gallery are the Byzantine symbols and the names of Eastern Mediterranean
possessions of Venice.
Elliott Room
Opening from the Venetian Lobby is the study room. Unlike the Abbey Room, to which it
corresponds in position and dimensions, this room is quite starkly plain, with little
attempt at decorations. One passes halfway through it through a door in its west wall into
the Elliott Room. This room, finely proportioned, lined with bookcases, takes its name
from the ceiling decoration, The Triumph of Time
by the Boston artist John Elliott.
Bates Hall
This magnificent room is named for the Library’s first great benefactor - Joshua
Bates (1788-1864). Occupying the whole front of the building on the second floor level and
lighted by high arched windows, it is 218 long, 42 feet
wide, and 50 feet high, to the crown of its barrel vaulted ceiling.
Sargent Gallery
This long, high gallery is named for the great American painter John
Singer Sargent, who spent years decorating its walls with his powerful and original mural
sequence, Triumph of Religion. The gallery is reached from the Venetian
Lobby by a long straight flight of stairs, open to the hall above, leading between the
wall of Bates Hall and the Chavannes Gallery. It is 84 feet long, 23
feet wide, and 26 feet high. The dark sandstone of the walls and the balustrade of
the stairway, and the absence of windows give the gallery a rather somber appearance.
Wiggin Gallery
At the south end of the Sargent Gallery is the entrance to the Albert H.
Wiggin Gallery. Originally devoted to special collections, this large, admirably
proportioned room was given over to the exhibiting of prints in 1941 when Mr. Wiggin, a
Boston born New York financier, gave the Library his collection of prints and
drawings. The print collection, developed steadily since that time, is exceptionally
strong in the works of American and European artists of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
Features of this room are the handsome central dome with molded plaster
ornamentation in leaf and berry patterns; the polished terrazzo floor; and the pair of
high arched windows that look out on the courtyard.
The Courtyard
Next to the quiet grandeur of the Main Staircase, the McKim Building’s deep
interior courtyard delights and charms the visitor. It is a haven of peace and beauty
rarely found in a public building.
The wall of the main staircase projects well into the courtyard. Along the other three
walls rounds an arcaded promenade which is an almost exact facsimile of the arcade of the
Cancelleria Palace in Rome. Frederick MacMonnies' Bacchante and Infant Faun, is the bronze cast fountain
statue.
Art and Architectural Tours of the Boston Public Library
If this brief description of the McKim Building has
whetted your appetite, you may enjoy taking a free one-hour tour.
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