Boston of to-day; a glance at its history and characteristicsWith biographical sketches and portraits of many of its professional and business men . searchafter the Holy Grail, or the beginning of modernliterature, the skill of Edwin A. Abbey has beenemployed ; John S. Sargents contribution is a greatmural painting, The Dawn of Christianity, as re-vealed in the Old and New Testament, which willfind a place at either end of the great staircase-hallon the special library floor. Some idea of the ex-tent of the new building can be gathered from thesefigures: the superficial area of the flooring is
Boston of to-day; a glance at its history and characteristicsWith biographical sketches and portraits of many of its professional and business men . searchafter the Holy Grail, or the beginning of modernliterature, the skill of Edwin A. Abbey has beenemployed ; John S. Sargents contribution is a greatmural painting, The Dawn of Christianity, as re-vealed in the Old and New Testament, which willfind a place at either end of the great staircase-hallon the special library floor. Some idea of the ex-tent of the new building can be gathered from thesefigures: the superficial area of the flooring is 4acres; the stacks are built to hold 20 miles ofshelving, and can be greatly increased as more roomis needed. The old library building on Boylstonstreet was built to accommodate 220,000 books, andafibrded 6,868 square feet of room for students andreaders ; the new building is built to contain 2,000,-000 volumes, with 32,900 square feet for studentsand readers. The total cost of the new building isestimated at $2,218,365; the old building cost,when completed in 1858, six years after the librarywas formally established, $365,000. .Xt that time. 64 BOSTON OF TO-DAY. the library contained about 70,000 volumes: in1891 it numbered 557,810 volumes. The new-building is fire-proof. The old building has longbeen overcrowded, and the various special libraries,the Barton, Bowditch, Prince, Ticknor, Parker, andothers, were not easily accessible ; in the new build-ing, separate rooms are provided for these collec-tions. The Harvard Medical School building, on Boyl-ston street, next beyond the new Public Library, andoccupying the large lot between that and , is an imposing pile, with effective exteriorand admirably arranged interior. Its brick wallsare relieved by the red sandstone mouldings andlintels with the decorative panels of terra-cotta ; andthe flat roof covering its four stories is finishedby a sky-line of stone balustrades and low main front has three pavili
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidbostonoftoda, bookyear1892
