Lenox Library (New York)

The Lenox Library was a library incorporated and endowed in 1870. It was both an architectural and intellectual landmark in Gilded Age New York City. It was founded by bibliophile and philanthropist James Lenox, and located on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71th streets. Renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the building, which was considered one of the city's most notable buildings, until its destruction in 1912.

The library’s collection was unsurpassed in its collection of Bibles, and included the first Gutenberg Bible to cross the Atlantic. It was also known for its collection of Shakespeare, Milton, and early American literature. The library became a part of the founding collection of the New York Public Library in 1895, and opened to the public in this capacity in 1911.

Early History

G.P.A. Healy, "Portrait of James Lenox," 1851.

The Lenox Library began as the personal collection of James Lenox, and was housed in his home at 53 Fifth Avenue, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 12th Street. Lenox began collecting principally books, but also fine paintings and sculpture, around 1845. He worked briefly with the London literary agency Wiley & Putnam, and then with Henry Stevens of Vermont for the next thirty-five years, or the remainder of his life. Stevens worked mostly in Europe, locating fine and rare volumes for the growing Lenox collection. He bought them and sold them to Mr. Lenox with a ten percent commission.^[1]

James Lenox had a cataloguing system known only to him, and kept his books bound and piled in the rooms of his townhouse, not on shelves or in according to any organized system. It was this overcrowding and lack of ease of use of the library that inspired him to build a separate institution with the express purpose of housing his book collection.^[2]

Building and Opening to the Public

Lenox built his library on a lot on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st streets. James Lenox had inherited some thirty acres of farmland between 68th and 73rd streets and Fifth and Madison avenues from his father, Robert, in 1839. Even after the construction of the Lenox Library, the Lenox farm continued operations in the surrounding lots. Robert Lenox advised his son before his death not to sell the land too soon, for he predicted the city would expand uptown towards his land and raise it’s value. He was correct, and when James Lenox did choose to sell some of his land in lots to wealthy homebuilders, he made a great deal of money.^[3]

Lenox Library, 1879, "The American Cyclopædia"

Lenox hired famed architect Richard Morris Hunt to design his library in 1870, and it was not completed until 1877. The library was incredibly grand, and was considered one of New York City’s greatest architectural works at the time of its completion. It cost $450,000, the land being valued at very nearly the same amount. It was a fire-proof structure, with outside walls of Lockport limestone, with a front of 200 feet and a depth of 114 feet. It contained four spacious reading rooms, a gallery for paintings, and another for sculpture.

The galleries of paintings and sculpture were opened to the public on January 15, 1877, and the rare book rooms were opened later that year. The reading room was not available to the public until 1880. Even in 1880, none of these resources were easily accessible to all. The library’s resources were limited to scholars who had to apply for admission. Likewise, visitors to the gallery were only welcome two days a week, and had to apply for a ticket in advance, via mail. ^[4]

Collection

The collection of the Lenox library was impressive by any standard – the collection of Bibles, in particular, was considered superior even to the libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, and the British Museum. Lenox was in possession of the Mazarin Bible, the first Gutenberg Bible to enter the New World. According to bibliographic legend, Henry Stevens instructed customs officials to remove their hats when they saw the bible, as it was such a great treasure that is deserved reverence.^[5] Lenox also focused on Milton, Shakespeare, and Americana. His library was “patchy” to a librarian seeking to have a broad array of resources, but incredibly valuable to a bibliophile like himself who developed passions about specific fields.^[6]

Lenox’s art collection was also remarkable, and included what are believed to be the first J.M.W. Turner paintings to cross the Atlantic. It also included works by Thomas Gainsborough, Albert Bierstadt, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, among others. There were 145 paintings on display, 15 sculptures, and 59 items classified as “paintings on porcelain, enamels, mosaics, etc.” ^[7]

Legacy

After James Lenox’s death in 1880, his library's finances began to suffer. In 1895, the Samuel Tilden Trust provided the funds for the creation of a public library in New York, and was the catalyst for the consolidation of the Lenox Library and the Astor Library into the New York Public Library. John Bigelow, along with other allies, took the project on until it the legal agreement was signed on May 23, 1895. The first director was Dr. John Shaw Billings, and he oversaw the construction of the Fifth Avenue building that still stands today. It opened to the public in 1911.^[8]

Façade of the New York Public Library

The Lenox Library was demolished in 1912 after all of the books were transferred to the new New York Public Library. Henry Clay Frick, who had purchased the land on which the library stood in 1906, immediately began building his own home and future museum, which was completed in 1914 and opened to the public as the Frick Collection in 1935.

The name James Lenox is still inscribed on the façade of the New York Public Library, in the center over the middle door, along with the names John Jacob Astor and Samuel Jones Tilden. The legacy of James Lenox lives on today in that institution, as do many of the treasures of his collection.^[9]

The portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart that was in Lenox’s collection, and then the New York Public Library, was put up for sale at auction at Sotheby’s in 2005, as part of a campaign to raise money for the library’s endowment. It failed to sell, likely due to its size (95x64in) and the fact that another Stuart Washington portrait was also for sale in the same auction.^[10] It has since sold to New York collectors Judy and Michael Steinhardt for an undisclosed amount, but for no less than $5 million.^[11]

Highlights from the Collection

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  Albert Bierstadt, "Valley of the Yosemite," 1864. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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  Thomas Cole, "Expulsion from Paradise," 1828. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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  J.M.W. Turner, "Staffa, Fingal's Cave," 1831-32. Yale Center for British Art

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  Gilbert Stuart, "George Washington (The Munro-Lenox Portrait)," circa 1800. Private collection.

References

Coordinates: 40°46′16″N 73°58′01″W / 40.771°N 73.967°W / 40.771; -73.967