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R&R -- rest and read -- at the Library Hotel
By MARGO HAMMOND, Times Books Editor Not many people visit New York City so they can curl up with a good book, but at the Library Hotel, a luxury hotel at Madison Avenue and 41st Street, guests may be tempted to do just that. And what library has ever provided late-night reading material and Belgian chocolates on your pillow? Converted from a turn-of-the-last-century office building into a 60-room luxury accommodation, the Library Hotel is organized by the Dewey Decimal System: Its 10 floors of rooms each represent one of the 10 major classifications of knowledge used by libraries worldwide: Social Sciences, Language, Math and Science, Technology, the Arts, Literature, History, General Knowledge, Philosophy and Religion. Each room, dedicated to a subset of those categories, features a library of specialized reading. The 700s in a library, for example, are devoted to the Arts, so on the seventh floor, there is a Painting Room, an Architecture Room and a Fashion Design Room. Each is filled with books on its subject. In the Music Room -- No. 700.005 -- Elvis Presley: A Bio-Bibliography sits on the left night stand, The Steinway Saga on the right. In the room's bookcase are volumes for musical tastes that include The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan: Librettos from all Fourteen Operettas, Schonberg's The Lives of Great Composers, Frank Sinatra's autobiography, All or Nothing at All, and Naomi Judd's Love Can Build a Bridge. The most requested room is 800.001 (devoted to Erotic Literature). Neil Armstrong reportedly has stayed in the Astronomy Room. I'm not sure I want to know who has been asking for the Paranormal Room. With 6,000 volumes in the hotel (they were bought at the Strand used bookstore in Greenwich Village), bookcases are everywhere, including the lobby and three public living rooms. One of the living rooms is the Writer's Den, a mahogany-paneled room on the 14th floor with a fireplace.
The most delicious place to read -- or have a drink or a room service snack -- is in the 14th-floor Poetry Garden, a glass-enclosed greenhouse with large wicker chairs and tables piled high with collections of Dylan Thomas and Walt Whitnam and surrounded by a wrap-around terrace. Exploring the hotel, I found myself wanting to talk in hushed whispers. In the elevator, though I didn't see Marion the Librarian, I did spot several guests with books tucked under their arms. If guests become particularly engrossed in a book, the hotel will sell it to them at check-out time. The real thingThe idea for the hotel's theme was most likely prompted by the nearby New York Public Library. Some of the hotel's rooms, such as the Love Room, have a view of that Fifth Avenue landmark, and the imposing Beaux-Arts building can be seen from the 14th floor terrace. But the theme inspiration could also have been taken from the nearby Morgan Library, two blocks to the south at 36th and Madison. Tourists -- and surely some residents -- may pass the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, with its famous pair of marble lions at the front steps, without realizing the treasures within. The most spectacular site is the Rose Main Reading Room, on the third floor. Almost two city blocks long, this room is one of the world's largest that is unencumbered by support columns. The reading room is the size of the nave of Notre Dame in Paris, and almost as lavishly decorated. Because of a restoration that began in 1997, light now pours through the arch windows, which had been blackened during World War II because of the fear of air raids. Hand-carved bookcases and doors have been stripped and refinished, and the long tables with their brass reading lamps (the place seats 636) have been wired for computers. Watching the readers from the 52-foot-high ceiling: cherubs 3 feet tall. Across from the reading room is an exhibit called New York Eats Out, which celebrates the city's various eateries. It displays photographs of a pretzel vendor and the Eighth Avenue Automat, as well as menus from Delmonico's and Windows on the World, which was at the top of one of the World Trade Center's twin towers. The exhibit runs until March 1. Along the wall in the hall is a series of landscape prints by such giants as Eugene Delacroix and Salvador Dali (these are shown through Jan. 4). Also on the third floor is the Charles Addams Gallery, which features a rotating selection of drawings by the New Yorker cartoonist who inspired the Addams Family. Last fall, in a first floor exhibition space, the library showed off some of its most prized possessions, including a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the 15th-century volume that is considered the first book printed in the West. (That exhibit space now features New York wildlife illustrations). One man's collectionThe Morgan Library also has a Gutenberg Bible on permanent display, along with such gems as Henry David Thoreau's journal from 1845 and the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, from the 15th century. Stepping into "Mr. Morgan's library," as it was known when financier Pierpont Morgan had it built in the early part of the 20th century next to his brownstone home, is a rare pleasure. Called "one of the seven wonders of the Edwardian World," the Italian Renaissance-style palazzo was designed by Charles McKim of the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. The residence and library have been joined so visitors also can peek into Morgan's private study, filled with the objets d'art that he collected as passionately as he did books. Hurry, though: The library is scheduled for extensive renovation and expansion. It will remain open with a full exhibition schedule and series of programs until late spring, but after that it may be a while before you can glimpse that Gutenberg again. Meanwhile, back at the Library Hotel, even those two Belgian chocolates left on the pillow each night during the turndown service are a reminder of what a haven libraries can be -- especially in always on-the-go New York. "When I step into this library, I cannot understand why I ever step out of it" reads a quote, with a chocolate, from French writer Madame de Sevigne. The other chocolate during my visit included a line from author Jorge Luis Borges: "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." IF YOU GO
The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street; (212) 930-0830; www.nypl.org. Exhibition hours: 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Tues.-Wed., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thurs.-Sat.. Closed Sunday and Monday. Free one-hour tours of the building are given at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Free tours of the main exhibit are offered at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. The Morgan Library, 29 E 36th St., entrances on the corner of 36th Street and Madison Avenue and through the Morgan Library Shop at 37th Street and Madison. Requested contribution: $8 adults; $6 students and seniors; free for children 12 and younger when accompanied by an adult. Open 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Fri., 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday and holidays.
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