Sterling Memorial Library

Sterling Memorial Library is the largest library at Yale University, containing over 4 million volumes in over 15 floors. It is an example of Gothic revival architecture, adorned with hundreds of panes of stained glass created by G. Owen Bonawit. Image File history File links Sterling-library. ... Image File history File links Sterling-library. ... Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. ... Victoria Tower at the Palace of Westminster, London: Gothic details provided by A.W.N. Pugin Gothic Revival was an architectural movement with its origins in mid-18th century England. ... Strictly speaking, stained glass is glass that has been painted with silver stain and then fired. ... G. Owen Bonawit is an artist whose studio created thousands of pieces of stained glass in the early 1900s at Yale University, Duke University, Northwestern University, and others. ...

Although the original architect, Bertram Goodhue, originally intended Sterling to be taller and resemble the State Capitol Building in Lincoln, Nebraska, plans changed under the new architect James Gamble Rogers. Goodhue by Lee Lawrie, holding the Rockefeller Chapel, Chicago, Illinois Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (April 28, 1869 - April 23, 1924) was a renowned American architect celebrated for his work in neo-gothic design. ... Motto: Nickname: Star City Map Political Statistics Founded 18671 Incorporated 1869 Lancaster County Mayor Coleen Seng Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 195. ... James Gamble Rogers is the architect who designed Butler Library at Columbia University and who also designed many of the gothic structures at Yale University in the 1910s and 1920s. ...

Rogers created the library in the image of a Gothic cathedral, even going so far as to model the circulation desk after an altar. He even required that the library be seen from the street. As a result, Berkeley College was divided into two sections in order to create an unobstructed view of the cathedral-like library. It was designed as a memorial to John William Sterling (Yale 1864), who donated much of his fortune to Yale. Sterling Memorial Library, which Rogers remarked was "as near to modern Gothic as we dared to make it," is made up of fifteen stack levels and eight floors of reading rooms, offices, and work areas.

The Library has 15 levels, each with its own specific category of books. In 1971 an adjoining but seperate library was built. Cross-Campus Library connects to Sterling via an underground tunnel. Cross-Campus Library currently contains an additional 180,000 volumes.

The amount of stone transported for the construction exceeded the amount used, and as a result, myths and legends abound on the Yale campus regarding fanciful structures claimed to exist on the roof, built of surplussed stone and metal. One story has a small castle hiding the air-conditioning system. Another claims that there exists an entire miniature city up there, complete with its own stone golf course. In reality much of the fanciful design that exists on the roof was present in the original design.

Sterling houses roughly 4 million of Yale's 11 million volumes.

External link

• Yale University Library
• Sterling Memorial Library History