New York Public Library Main Branch

You are approaching the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the flagship of the New York Public Library. Before this limestone and marble monument stood here, this two-block stretch between 40th and 42nd Streets was occupied by the Croton Distributing Reservoir. This massive stone structure held millions of gallons of water, serving as a vital part of the city's infrastructure and a popular elevated walking path for nineteenth-century New Yorkers. It took five hundred workers two years to dismantle the reservoir just to prepare the foundation for the library you see today.