Gould Memorial Library

The Gould Memorial Library is on a high plateau in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. The plateau is {{cvt|170|ft}} above sea level and overlooks the Harlem River immediately to the west. When Gould was built, the plateau had views of the Palisades to the west, Spuyten Duyvil to the north, Long Island to the east, and the South Bronx to the south. The modern site overlooks the Major Deegan Expressway, the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, and the Harlem River to the west.{{harvnb|National Park Service|1979|ps=.|p=4}} Gould was originally part of New York University's (NYU) campus. Since 1973, Gould has been part of Bronx Community College (BCC), operated by the City University of New York (CUNY).{{cite web |date=January 31, 2020 |title=Gould Memorial Library – Bronx Community College |url=http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/about-bcc/history-architecture/gould-memorial-library/ |access-date=June 3, 2022 |website=Bronx Community College |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603141544/http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/about-bcc/history-architecture/gould-memorial-library/ |url-status=live}} The library occupies a land lot whose official address is 1930 Sedgwick Avenue.{{Cite web |title=1930 Sedgwick Avenue, 10453 |url=https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/2/3222/62 |publisher=New York City Department of City Planning |access-date=March 20, 2020 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625061416/https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/2/3222/62 |url-status=live }}

The library is flanked by the Hall of Languages to the south and the Hall of Philosophy to the north.{{harvnb|Architects' and Builders' Magazine|1902|ps=.|p=172}}{{cite report |url=https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0113.pdf |title=Hall of Fame |date=February 15, 1966 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602162410/https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0113.pdf |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |url-status=live}} The three buildings are placed at the top of the plateau.{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=188|ps=.}} The building is about {{cvt|30|ft}} above Sedgwick Avenue, which runs directly to the west.{{Cite news |date=January 27, 1897 |title=A Fountain for the City; Gift in Sedgwick Avenue from the New York University. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/01/27/archives/a-fountain-for-the-city-gift-in-sedgwick-avenue-from-the-new-york.html |access-date=June 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602191818/https://www.nytimes.com/1897/01/27/archives/a-fountain-for-the-city-gift-in-sedgwick-avenue-from-the-new-york.html |url-status=live}} The Hall of Fame for Great Americans runs to the west of the Gould Memorial Library, Hall of Languages, and Hall of Philosophy.{{Cite news |last=Sedensky |first=Matt |date=November 25, 2001 |title=Neighborhood Report: University Heights; The Original Hall of Fame Tries to Get Back on Its Feet |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/25/nyregion/neighborhood-report-university-heights-original-hall-fame-tries-get-back-its.html |access-date=June 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602163337/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/25/nyregion/neighborhood-report-university-heights-original-hall-fame-tries-get-back-its.html |url-status=live}} The Hall of Fame, composed of a {{cvt|630|ft|m|-long|adj=mid}} stone colonnade as well as a brick walkway,{{Cite web |title=Bronx Community College |url=http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/halloffame/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607225504/http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/halloffame/ |archive-date=June 7, 2014 |access-date=November 22, 2012}} contains bronze portrait busts of prominent Americans. The Hall of Fame was designed to conceal the Gould Memorial Library's foundation.{{Cite NY1900|page=108}} The portion of the colonnade next to the library is circular in plan. West of the Hall of Fame is a fountain facing Sedgwick Avenue. To the east, a promenade cuts across BCC's quad. The promenade originally extended to Ohio Field,{{cite news |date=April 14, 1899 |title=Improvements at N. Y. U.: School of Applied Science to Be Established—Comprehensive Plan for Grounds |page=9 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|574592370}}}} but a student center was built between the library and Ohio Field in 1953.{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=November 26, 2006 |title=Not What Stanford White Envisioned, but Notable |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/realestate/26scapes.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200833/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/realestate/26scapes.html |url-status=live}}

The Gould Memorial Library was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White and was built between 1895 and 1898 as part of the New York University Libraries system.{{cite nycland |pages=331–333}}{{Cite aia5|pages=496–497}} It was the centerpiece of NYU's Bronx campus.{{harvnb|Broderick|2010|p=388|ps=.}} Since 1973, it has been part of the BCC campus. Gould no longer serves as the campus library; it has been superseded by the Bronx Community College Library, which opened in 2012.{{cite web |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=September 2, 2012 |title=Bronx Community College Gets a Library, and Building, Truly Its Own |url=//cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/bronx-community-college-gets-a-proper-college-library/ |access-date=June 3, 2022 |website=City Room |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603143047/https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/bronx-community-college-gets-a-proper-college-library/ |url-status=live}}

The library is shaped like a Greek cross; this layout was also used for the Low Memorial Library, designed by White's colleague Charles Follen McKim. It measures four bays wide on each elevation. The corners of the building contain notches. To the north, west, and south are wings with pediments, each of which measures one bay deep and four bays across.{{harvnb|National Park Service|1979|ps=.|p=2}} The eastern elevation, facing the rest of the BCC campus, contains a portico with Corinthian columns. Each of the six columns in the portico is made of Indiana sandstone.

The library, as well as the adjacent buildings, are clad with buff brick and limestone trim.{{harvnb|White|White|2008|ps=.|p=330}} Pink granite and soft-red copper were also used in the building's construction.{{Cite news |date=October 8, 1899 |title=A House for Books: Progress on the Library Building of New-York University |pages=13 |work=New-York Tribune |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103079070/a-house-for-books-progress-on-the/ |access-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603141544/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103079070/a-house-for-books-progress-on-the/ |url-status=live}} The main entrance to the library is underneath the portico to the east. It contains bronze entrance doors, which were designed in 1921 and sculpted by White's son, Lawrence Grant White.{{Cite news |date=December 4, 1921 |title=Stanford White Memorial; Bronze Doors Designed by Son to Be Unveiled at New York University |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/12/04/archives/stanford-white-memorial-bronze-doors-designed-by-son-to-be-unveiled.html |access-date=June 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602191817/https://www.nytimes.com/1921/12/04/archives/stanford-white-memorial-bronze-doors-designed-by-son-to-be-unveiled.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=December 11, 1921 |title=Stanford White Is Eulogized as Gift Doors Are Unveiled: Achievements of Architect Recited Before Bronze Memorial in Gould Library at N. Y. University |page=18 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|576515198}}}} The doors, consisting of eight relief panels, were designed by six sculptors who had worked with Stanford White.{{Efn|Andrew O'Connor, Philip Martiny, Herbert Adams, Adolph Weinman, Ulysses Ricci, and Janet Scudder designed the doors.}}{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=13}} The remaining three elevations are made of Roman red brick, framed with pilasters made of limestone. The brick walls contain windows.{{cite report |url=https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0112.pdf |title=Gould Memorial Library |date=February 15, 1966 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516210811/https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0112.pdf |archive-date=May 16, 2021 |url-status=live}} Each of the windows is flanked by molded jambs and topped by entablatures. Above the building is a Composite-style cornice with antefixes.

The top of the library contains a circular drum, above which is a saucer dome with an oculus at its center. There is also a composite frieze on the dome, decorated with garlands and pendants. The dome is covered with copper tiles. The lower section of the dome is divided into several stepped tiers. Surrounding the oculus are decorations such as antefixes. Several authors have likened the arrangement of the building, with its dome and porticoes, to the University of Virginia's Rotunda.{{cite book |last=Lowe |first=David Garrard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P65PAAAAMAAJ |title=Stanford White's New York |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8230-4914-1 |page=169 |access-date=June 7, 2022 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602191924/https://books.google.com/books?id=P65PAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}

File:Gould_Memorial_Library_Exit.jpg

Just inside the doors is a vestibule with bronze lamps on either side. The vestibule is decorated with stained-glass windows; a mosaic floor with red, yellow, white and black tiles; and a domed ceiling. There is a revolving door just inside the vestibule, which leads to a landing with a mosaic floor and wooden office doors.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|pp=7–8}} The side walls contain barrel-vaulted staircases descending to the basement.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=7}} One of these staircases led to the auditorium. This stairway contained six marble panels with the inscription "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom" in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, English, and German.

A main staircase with 24 Tennessee marble steps ascends from the lower landing to the reading room.{{cite magazine |date=July 26, 1902 |title=Libraries of the United States—II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FItMAAAAYAAJ |journal=American Architect and Architecture |publisher=American Architect |volume=77 |pages=28–29 |access-date=September 24, 2021 |archive-date=October 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009163714/https://books.google.com/books?id=FItMAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live |postscript=. {{PD-notice}}}} The main staircase is placed inside a stair hall with a barrel-vaulted, coffered ceiling.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=8}}{{harvnb|National Park Service|1979|ps=.|p=3}} The design of the main staircase was inspired by a sketch that White had created in his youth.{{harvnb|White|White|2008|ps=.|p=328}} Inspiration was also derived from the Golden Staircase in the Doge's Palace and the Scala Regia in the Apostolic Palace.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=10}} The staircase was designed to resemble an ascent toward knowledge, as the domed reading room could not be seen until a visitor reached the top of the staircase. Each of the steps is {{cvt|12|ft}} wide. The walls of the stair hall are clad with Portland stone to about two-thirds of the stair hall's height. A frieze with a scroll pattern, as well as pale-yellow panels of marble, runs atop the Portland-stone section of the wall. Each wall contains two stone pilasters, one near the bottom of the staircase and one near the top. There are bronze torchères attached to both sets of pilasters, above which are glass orbs providing illumination to the stairway. The top of each wall contains an entablature, above which rises the ceiling.

The top of the stair hall contains an upper landing with a domed ceiling, similar in design to the lower landing. A green roundel of Tiffany glass is placed within the middle of the dome, and a glass lighting orb is suspended from this roundel. The walls of the upper landing are similar to those in the stair hall: Portland stone on the lower two-thirds of the wall and pale-yellow marble panels above. Directly in front of the stair hall is a doorway with an eared frame and a triangular pediment, which leads directly into the reading room. In addition, each side wall contains doorways to NYU's former administrative offices. The librarian's room is to the left while the chancellor's room is to the right. Above all these doorways are lunette openings with niches, each of which is large enough to fit a bust.

File:Rotunda_Gould_Memorial_Library_20151018_Montgomery.jpg

The circular reading room was designed as the centerpiece of the library and was surrounded by three levels of stacks.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=5}} The outer wall of the reading room contains a colonnade of 16 triple-height engaged and fluted Corinthian columns. It is aligned with an inner colonnade of freestanding green Connemara marble columns.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|pp=9–10}} The colonnades flank a passageway with a floor of white, black, and yellow marble tiles; the passageway measures about {{cvt|5|ft}} wide. A skylight in the middle of the ground floor, measuring {{cvt|15|ft}} across, illuminates the former auditorium in the basement.{{cite news |date=December 23, 1900 |title=A Superb New Library: That of New-York University on Morris Heights Completed |page=B1 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|570928838}}}} There are three balconies immediately above the passageway. The second-level balcony contains an iron frame with a glass floor. The third-level balcony was decorated more ornately. Above the colonnades is a fourth-level balcony as well as the dome.

On the reading room's north, west, and south walls were alcoves with stacks, as well as doorways leading to seminar rooms and staircases. Each of the alcoves contained three tiers of stacks, each measuring {{cvt|7.5|ft}} tall. The alcoves were all divided vertically into three bays. On the first level, the outer bays of each alcove contained bookcases, while the central bay contained a swinging bookcase that doubled as a doorway. The names of academics and other intellectual figures are inscribed onto the walls of the reading room, above and below the bookcases.{{cite web |last=Macaulay-Lewis |first=Elizabeth |date=September 11, 2018 |title=The Gould Memorial Library: A Forgotten Stanford White Gem in the Bronx |url=https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/the-gould-memorial-library-a-forgotten-stanford-white-gem-in-the-bronx |access-date=June 3, 2022 |website=The Gotham Center for New York City History |archive-date=June 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607170225/https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/the-gould-memorial-library-a-forgotten-stanford-white-gem-in-the-bronx |url-status=live}} The second and third levels contained iron bookcases, gilded doors, and inscriptions similar to those on the first level. Above the stacks on the third level are red, green, and blue Tiffany glass panels.

The reading room's entrance was flanked by card catalog desks. The loan desk was in the second alcove, counting clockwise from the main entrance (on the patron's left when they entered). The loan desk contained an inscription of a Latin phrase.{{Efn|The phrase, "Multoque satius est paucis te autoribus tradere quam per multos errare", roughly translates to "It is much better to give yourself over to a few authors than to wander about over many".}} White designed furniture for the reading room, which is no longer extant. The furniture was designed for a practical purpose; for example, the legs of the chairs and tables had rubber tips to prevent screeching. The center of the room contained a circular table surrounded by twenty-four seats. Radiating from the center were eight long and eight short tables; the short tables seated four people, and the long tables seated eight people. This gave the reading room a seating capacity of 120.

The Connemara-marble inner colonnade surrounds the central section of the reading room, which is {{cvt|54|ft|3|in}} across. Each of the columns has a diameter of {{cvt|3|ft|5|in}}. Between each set of columns were glazed cases for large books or portfolios. The columns were constructed in six sections and are placed atop white Vermont-marble pedestals. The tops of the columns have metal Corinthian capitals, painted by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Co. in a gold color.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=9}} These columns support an entablature and a balcony. The entablature contains a frieze with an inscription in all capital letters,{{Efn|The inscription is divided into 16 sections:

• And Chiefly
• Thou Spirit
• That Dost
• Prefer Before
• All Temples
• The Upright
• Heart and
• Pure Instruct
• Me For
• Thou Knowest
• What In
• Me Is
• Dark Illumine
• What Is
• Low Raise
• And Support}} which is derived from book 1 of John Milton's poem Paradise Lost. There is an architrave with Greek frets beneath the inscription, as well as a cornice with brackets above.

File:BCC_GouldLibrary1.JPGThe balcony on the fourth level, above the colonnades, contains a plaster balustrade with openwork motifs, interrupted by 16 plaster pedestals with Tiffany glass mosaics. Atop these pedestals are plaster statues of female figures. The statues may represent four Greek figures related to learning: Polyhymnia (muse of sacred poetry), Calliope (muse of epic poetry), Mnemosyne (goddess of memory), and Urania (muse of astronomy). There are bookcases on the outer walls of the balcony, within the dome's drum. Another inscription in all capital letters, from the Book of Job, is placed above the drum and just beneath the dome.{{Efn|The inscription is "But Where Shall Wisdom Be Found and Where Is the Place of Understanding Man Knoweth Not the Place Thereof Neither Is It Found in the Land of the Living the Depth Saith It Is Not in Me and the Sea Saith It Is Not With Me Destruction and Death Say We Have Heard the Fame Thereof".}}

The dome is made of plaster and is divided into coffers, each with a rosette at its center. The coffers become progressively smaller near the highest point of the dome, above the middle of the room. The center of the dome originally contained a Tiffany-glass skylight, which has since been sealed. The skylight measured {{cvt|23|ft}} across. The top of the dome is either {{cvt|70|ft}} or {{cvt|73|ft}} above the main floor of the reading room.

Adjacent to the reading room were 18 seminar rooms, each of which was connected to a set of stacks.{{cite magazine |last=MacCracken |first=Henry M. |date=October 13, 1898 |title=History of New York University |volume=76 |issue=41 |page=491 |id={{ProQuest|136664967}} |magazine=New York Observer and Chronicle}} Each seminar room measured {{cvt|18|by|14|ft}} and contained two tables, which accommodated a total of four people. There were six seminar rooms on each of the first through third levels. The seminar rooms for the history and philosophy departments were on the first level. The language departments occupied the rooms on the second level. The seminar rooms for the various mathematics, sciences, engineering, and arts departments were on the third level. The library's holdings included a collection of 8,000 German-language books from an anonymous donor, as well as 3,000 Italian volumes from former NYU philosophy professor Vincenzo Botta.

NYU's administrative offices, just outside the upper landing of the main stairway, contained fireplaces and wood-paneled walls. The librarian's office contained white mahogany. The chancellor's room had an oiled maple floor, as well as San Domingo mahogany wainscoting. Above those were two cataloguing rooms on the second floor and the periodical and newspaper reading rooms on the third floor.

Under the reading room was a 600-seat auditorium, which originally served as the Gould Library's chapel.{{Cite news |last=Friedman |first=Andrew |date=November 5, 2000 |title=Neighborhood Report: University Heights; A Born-Again Auditorium With a Chapel's Grace |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/05/nyregion/neighborhood-report-university-heights-born-again-auditorium-with-chapel-s-grace.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200848/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/05/nyregion/neighborhood-report-university-heights-born-again-auditorium-with-chapel-s-grace.html |url-status=live}} When the library opened, the New-York Tribune said the auditorium could fit 400 people and a theatre organ on the stage. The seats were arranged in an amphitheater layout, surrounding a stage. In addition, there were 18 professors' offices around the stage. Science professors occupied eight offices directly behind the stage; history and philosophy professors occupied five offices on one side; and mathematics professors occupied five offices on the other side. The auditorium was designed so it could be converted into stacks if necessary. After the auditorium was damaged by arson in 1969, Marcel Breuer redesigned it in a brutalist style.{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=March 24, 1996 |title=Streetscapes/Gould Memorial Library; A Spectacular Interior Designed by Stanford White |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/24/realestate/streetscapes-gould-memorial-library-spectacular-interior-designed-stanford-white.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603143050/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/24/realestate/streetscapes-gould-memorial-library-spectacular-interior-designed-stanford-white.html |url-status=live}} Also in the basement were large fans, which generated warm air in winter and cool air in summer. The air was circulated throughout the building via flues on each story.

What is now New York University{{efn|NYU, a private college, was known as the University of the City of New York until 1896.{{cite web |url=http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/arch/thenandnow/ |title=A Window Into the Past: NYU in Retrospect |last1=Friss |first1=Evan |website=NYU Archives |publisher=New York University |access-date=August 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719014440/http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/arch/thenandnow/ |archive-date=July 19, 2013 |url-status=live}} It is not to be confused with the City University of New York, the city's public college system.}} was founded in 1831; its original campus faced Washington Square Park in Manhattan.{{harvnb|Architects' and Builders' Magazine|1902|ps=.|p=168}}{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=1}} NYU was a small college with less than a hundred students for its first half-century. NYU's vice chancellor Henry MacCracken began looking for alternate sites in November 1890.{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=185|ps=.}} The formerly residential area surrounding Washington Square Park had evolved into a commercial neighborhood by the late 19th century,{{harvnb|Broderick|2010|p=386|ps=.}} and MacCracken believed the growth of commerce would stymie undergraduate education.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=2}} MacCracken acquired the estate of H. W. T. Mali, on a bluff in the Bronx along the Harlem River, in May 1891. He became NYU's chancellor the next month, in large part due to his acquisition of the Mali estate. The original purchase covered {{cvt|22|acre}} and was subsequently expanded several times.{{harvnb|National Park Service|1979|ps=.|p=7}}

File:Interior_of_Gould_Memorial_Library_(Entrance).jpg

In January 1892, MacCracken wrote a letter to White, asking the architect if he would be interested in designing NYU's Bronx campus. White's involvement was largely based on the fact that his father, Richard Grant White, had attended NYU.{{harvnb|Broderick|2010|p=387|ps=.}} White originally planned to relocate NYU's original building "stone by stone" to the Bronx.{{harvnb|White|White|2008|ps=.|p=326}}{{harvnb|Roth|1983|pp=185–186|ps=.}} The relocated building would contain a museum, library, and chapel; the Mali mansion would contain classrooms.{{harvnb|Jones|1933|ps=.|p=162}}{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|pp=2–3}} In addition, two new structures were to have been constructed. This plan was deemed infeasible, as it would cost about the same as five new buildings, so NYU instead asked White to design a completely new campus.{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=186|ps=.}}{{harvnb|White|White|2008|ps=.|pp=326, 330}} The campus was to contain science, language, and philosophy halls; a library; a chapel; and dormitories, all arranged around a quadrangle.{{cite magazine |last=Bill |first=C. Alfred |date=Mar 1892 |title=The New York University |volume=33 |issue=3 |page=0_009 |id={{ProQuest|136555655}} |magazine=Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly}} Around the same time, MacCracken began raising money for the new campus. One of the donors to the new campus was railroad magnate Jay Gould, who was willing to fund the new campus but died at the end of 1892.{{harvnb|Jones|1933|ps=.|p=169}}

White was formally hired to design NYU's new Bronx campus in November 1893, at the same time his partner Charles Follen McKim was hired to design the rival Columbia University campus in Morningside Heights, Manhattan. The banker Jacob Schiff had proposed that the two colleges merge, so he could give a large endowment to the combined colleges. Officials from both colleges ultimately rejected this proposal.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=3}} By February 1894, White had outlined a plan for two classroom buildings flanking a domed central building. All structures would be made of yellow brick and limestone. The next month, the university sold its original building to fund the construction of the new Bronx campus. NYU's main campus at Washington Square continued to operate.{{Cite news |last=Schanberg |first=Sydney H. |date=October 15, 1967 |title=N.Y.U. Is Upgrading Its Academic Requirements; N.Y.U. Is Upgrading Its Academic Requirements, but Few Outside Education Field Notice Change |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/10/15/archives/nyu-is-upgrading-its-academic-requirements-nyu-is-upgrading-its.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606181611/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/10/15/archives/nyu-is-upgrading-its-academic-requirements-nyu-is-upgrading-its.html |url-status=live}}

Norcross Brothers began constructing the campus that April, and White was finalizing his plans for the library by the end of 1894.{{harvnb|Roth|1983|pp=186–188|ps=.}} The first building on the new campus was the Hall of Languages, as that was the only structure for which funds had been procured. In May 1895, NYU received a $250,000 gift for the construction of the central building, which was to contain the library, museum, commencement hall, and administrative offices. The library would have capacity for a million books, while the commencement hall was to fit 1,000 students. The only stipulation of the gift was that the donor remain anonymous.{{Cite news |date=May 25, 1895 |title=This Gift Worth $250,000; The Central Building to be Built for the University of New-York. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/05/25/archives/this-gift-worth-250000-the-central-building-to-be-built-for-the.html |access-date=June 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602183543/https://www.nytimes.com/1895/05/25/archives/this-gift-worth-250000-the-central-building-to-be-built-for-the.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=May 25, 1895 |title=A Generous Gift: New-York University to Have a $250,000 Central Building the Giver Declines to Make Himself Known—the Addition to Comprehend a Library, Commencement Hall, Museum and Administration Offices--$20,000 From Miss Helen M. Gould |page=12 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|574039503}}}} The donor was Jay Gould's daughter Helen Miller Shepard,{{harvnb|National Park Service|1979|ps=.|p=6}} whose name was mentioned in the New-York Tribune in relation with a separate $20,000 gift for NYU's dormitories. Shepard was not publicly revealed as the donor until several years later, in December 1898.{{harvnb|National Park Service|1979|ps=.|p=8}}{{Cite news |date=December 8, 1898 |title=University Library Fund; Members of the Gould Family Said to Have Subscribed $250,000. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/12/08/archives/university-library-fund-members-of-the-gould-family-said-to-have.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603153702/https://www.nytimes.com/1898/12/08/archives/university-library-fund-members-of-the-gould-family-said-to-have.html |url-status=live}} The library donation was part of $1.39 million in capital gifts that Shepard gave to NYU throughout her lifetime.{{cite news |last=Peyton |first=Bernard |date=October 9, 1952 |title=Frank Jay Gould Gives 1½ Million For N.Y.U. Bronx Student Center |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|112311561}}}}

As the central building of the new NYU campus, the library had the largest budget; the remaining buildings had simpler designs due to a lack of funds.{{harvnb|Broderick|2010|p=390|ps=.}} The library's budget was influenced by the design, whereas the opposite was typically true. After Shepard's donation, NYU's library committee wished to host an architectural design competition for the library, inviting White, Richard Morris Hunt, Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, and George B. Post.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=4}} Hunt, Hardenbergh, and Post all declined to participate. MacCracken initially did not seem to like the plans for the domed reading room and asked White to create alternate plans, a request to which White took offense. Hunt, who was hired to mediate the resulting dispute, sided with White.{{harvnb|Broderick|2010|p=389|ps=.}} In mid-1895, MacCracken wrote a letter to White, requesting that the library be recessed behind the Hall of Languages. A groundbreaking ceremony for the library occurred on October 19, 1895, upon the dedication of the Hall of Languages.{{Cite news |date=October 20, 1895 |title=Its Buildings Opened; Exercises at the University of the City of New-York |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/10/20/archives/its-buildings-opened-exercises-at-the-university-of-the-city-of.html |access-date=June 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602183543/https://www.nytimes.com/1895/10/20/archives/its-buildings-opened-exercises-at-the-university-of-the-city-of.html |url-status=live}}

MacCracken continued to modify the design after the groundbreaking. In September 1896, he wrote that it was "rather bewildering" that $500,000 had already been spent on the library, even though it had not been fitted out. MacCracken also requested that the library be fitted out with green Connemara marble columns, rather than the "sham" marble columns in White's original plans. White's partner McKim had secured only two Connemara marble columns for Columbia's Low Library due to the small amount of Connemara marble available. After acquiring 16 columns for the Gould Library, White boasted that McKim had been unable to secure the same material for Columbia's library.{{harvnb|Broderick|2010|ps=.|p=396}}{{cite morningside |page=147}} The first event hosted at the library was a conference for the American Philological Association, which convened at Gould in July 1899.{{cite news |date=July 8, 1899 |title=The Philologists: New President – Connecticut Well Represented |page=10 |work=The Hartford Courant |id={{ProQuest|554865560}}}} By the end of the year, the Gould Library was nearly complete; its construction had been delayed due to difficulties in securing the Connemara marble columns.

File:NYU_library2_crop.jpg

The library was completed in 1900.{{Cite web |date=2017 |title=Gould Memorial Library Brochure |url=https://site.bcc.cuny.edu/Support-BCC/documents/Gould-Memorial-Library-Brochure.pdf |access-date=June 6, 2022 |publisher=Bronx Community College |pages=4–5 |archive-date=June 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607162420/https://site.bcc.cuny.edu/Support-BCC/documents/Gould-Memorial-Library-Brochure.pdf |url-status=live}} According to a New-York Tribune article from that December, all work had been finished except for the installation of some furniture. Within a month, the Tribune said of the library: "Hardly a week passes without major additions to it."{{cite news |date=January 19, 1901 |title=New-York University |page=11 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|570959208}}}} A stained-glass window depicting justice, goodness, and power was also installed at Gould in early 1901.{{cite news |date=February 18, 1901 |title=A Symbolic Window: to Be Placed in the Library Building of the New-York University |page=5 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|570962035}}}} By the end of the year, Gould had 61,000 volumes, of which 5,000 had been added during the past year.{{Cite news |date=November 5, 1901 |title=Fund of $2,000,000 for New York University; Part for Permanent Endowment, Part for the Grounds. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1901/11/05/archives/fund-of-2000000-for-new-york-university-part-for-permanent.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603165036/https://www.nytimes.com/1901/11/05/archives/fund-of-2000000-for-new-york-university-part-for-permanent.html |url-status=live}} The adjacent Hall of Fame was dedicated in May 1901,{{Cite news |date=May 31, 1901 |title=Hall of Fame Dedicated; Tablets of Great Men Unveiled with Appropriate Ceremony |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1901/05/31/archives/hall-of-fame-dedicated-tablets-of-great-men-unveiled-with.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603153702/https://www.nytimes.com/1901/05/31/archives/hall-of-fame-dedicated-tablets-of-great-men-unveiled-with.html |url-status=live}} a year after Shepard had donated $100,000 for the hall.{{Cite news |date=March 8, 1900 |title=Miss Gould's Gift to Hall of Fame; Will Not Deny She Presented $100,000 to the University |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1900/03/08/archives/miss-goulds-gift-to-hall-of-fame-will-not-deny-she-presented-100000.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603153703/https://www.nytimes.com/1900/03/08/archives/miss-goulds-gift-to-hall-of-fame-will-not-deny-she-presented-100000.html |url-status=live}} NYU started using the library's auditorium for commencement ceremonies in 1903.{{Cite news |date=June 5, 1903 |title=New York University Confers Its Degrees; Ex-Secretary Lyman J. Gage Made a Doctor of Laws. Seventy-first Commencement of the In- stitution – The First to be Held on Its Campus at University Heights. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/06/05/archives/new-york-university-confers-its-degrees-exsecretary-lyman-j-gage.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603165035/https://www.nytimes.com/1903/06/05/archives/new-york-university-confers-its-degrees-exsecretary-lyman-j-gage.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=June 5, 1903 |title=N. Y. U. Commencement: First Joint Ceremony Eight Schools Take Part in Exercises and Procession |page=3 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|571432225}}}} During the early 20th century, the library hosted free concerts,{{cite news |date=July 11, 1920 |title=Free Concerts at the Gould Memorial Library |page=B3 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|576238726}}}} public-speaking contests,{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1925 |title=N.Y.U. Students Will Declaim for Prizes; Eight Men Picked for Annual Contest in Gould Library Friday Night. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/04/27/archives/nyu-students-will-declaim-for-prizes-eight-men-picked-for-annual.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603185906/https://www.nytimes.com/1925/04/27/archives/nyu-students-will-declaim-for-prizes-eight-men-picked-for-annual.html |url-status=live}} and Easter services.{{cite news |date=April 6, 1931 |title=Service on Gould Library Steps |page=3 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1114172683}}}}

NYU approved plans for the Hall of American Artists at the Gould Library in the late 1910s.{{Cite news |date=August 28, 1921 |title=American Artists in Memorial Busts; Beckwith, Inness and Ogilvie Placed in Gould Library at New York University |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/08/28/archives/american-artists-in-memorial-busts-beckwith-inness-and-ogilvie.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603185905/https://www.nytimes.com/1921/08/28/archives/american-artists-in-memorial-busts-beckwith-inness-and-ogilvie.html |url-status=live}} Sixteen busts of artists, painters, and sculptors were approved for the library's reading room.{{Cite news |date=May 20, 1928 |title=Two to Get Busts in Art Fame Hall; Busts of Artists to Be Unveiled Tuesday |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/05/20/archives/two-to-get-busts-in-art-fame-hall-busts-of-artists-to-be-unveiled.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603185904/https://www.nytimes.com/1928/05/20/archives/two-to-get-busts-in-art-fame-hall-busts-of-artists-to-be-unveiled.html |url-status=live}} The first busts, commemorating American artists Carroll Beckwith, George Inness, and Clinton Ogilvie, were installed at the Gould Library in August 1921.{{cite news |date=August 28, 1921 |title=Memorial to U. S. Painters: Busts of Three Americans Placed in New York Library. |page=3 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|145859430}}}} That December, NYU officials dedicated a new set of front doors for the library, which had been manufactured in memory of Stanford White. Other busts at Gould included those of William Merritt Chase (1923);{{cite news |date=May 30, 1923 |title=Artists Unveil Bust of Chase At New York U: Bronze, the Tribute of 92 Old Pupils of Famous American Painter, Placed in Gould Memorial Library Modeled by Albin Polasek Grandchildren Pull Ribbon That Releases the Flags; 100 Attend Ceremony |page=6 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1237270826}}}} Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1925);{{cite news |date=November 12, 1925 |title=Bust of Saint-Gaudens To Be Unveiled Tuesday: Ceremony at Library of New York University |page=21 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1112992343}}}} James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Samuel Morse (1928);{{Cite news |date=May 6, 1928 |title=To Unveil 5 Busts at N.Y.U. Thursday; Hall of Fame to Get Likenesses of Agassiz, Choate, Jones, Morse and Whittier |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/05/06/archives/to-unveil-5-busts-at-nyu-thursday-hall-of-fame-to-get-likenesses-of.html |access-date=June 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604195117/https://www.nytimes.com/1928/05/06/archives/to-unveil-5-busts-at-nyu-thursday-hall-of-fame-to-get-likenesses-of.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=May 23, 1928 |title=N.Y.U. Receives Busts of Morse And Whistler: Gifts of National Academy and Memorial Committee Put in Remembrance Hall Address by Cortissoz Read Director of Hall Made Officer of Legion of Honor Unveiling Whistler Memorial at New York University |page=21 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113639531}}}} Francis Davis Millet, Elihu Vedder, Charles Webster Hawthorne, and Charles Grafly (1934);{{Cite news |date=May 13, 1934 |title=Busts of 4 Artists for N.Y.U. Library; Bronzes Are to Be Unveiled Saturday at Ceremony in American Hall |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/05/13/archives/busts-of-4-artists-for-nyu-library-bronzes-are-to-be-unveiled.html |access-date=June 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604195116/https://www.nytimes.com/1934/05/13/archives/busts-of-4-artists-for-nyu-library-bronzes-are-to-be-unveiled.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=May 13, 1934 |title=Hall of American Artists |page=A10 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1114845404}}}} and Charles Henry Niehaus (1938).{{Cite news |date=December 3, 1938 |title=A Memorial Sculpture Of Charles H. Niehauss |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/12/03/archives/a-memorial-sculpture-of-charles-h-niehauss.html |access-date=June 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604195119/https://www.nytimes.com/1938/12/03/archives/a-memorial-sculpture-of-charles-h-niehauss.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=December 4, 1938 |title=Bronze Bust of Niehaus Is Unveiled at N. Y. U. |page=14 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1244705990}}}} A bust of NYU chancellor Elmer Ellsworth Brown was installed in the chancellors' office in 1932, following his retirement.{{Cite news |date=December 28, 1932 |title=Honor Chancellor Brown; Friends Will Place Bronze Bust of Him at New York University. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/12/28/archives/honor-chancellor-brown-friends-will-place-bronze-bust-of-him-at-new.html |access-date=June 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603185907/https://www.nytimes.com/1932/12/28/archives/honor-chancellor-brown-friends-will-place-bronze-bust-of-him-at-new.html |url-status=live}}

The library's auditorium continued to host commencement ceremonies for students who were graduating with baccalaureate degrees. Starting with the 1943 ceremony, overflow seating was placed outside the library due to the growing number of guests at the annual ceremonies.{{Cite news |date=June 7, 1943 |title=Service at N.Y.U. Draws Overflow; For First Time, Seats Are Put Outside the Auditorium at Baccalaureate Exercises |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/06/07/archives/service-at-nyu-draws-overflow-for-first-time-seats-are-put-outside.html |access-date=June 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607164446/https://www.nytimes.com/1943/06/07/archives/service-at-nyu-draws-overflow-for-first-time-seats-are-put-outside.html |url-status=live}} During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Gould Library also hosted pie-throwing contests to raise money for various student organizations.{{Cite news |date=March 8, 1952 |title=Students' Faces Stop Flying Pies In Gooey Fund Raising at N. Y. U. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/03/08/archives/students-faces-stop-flying-pies-in-gooey-fund-raising-at-n-y-u.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606180115/https://www.nytimes.com/1952/03/08/archives/students-faces-stop-flying-pies-in-gooey-fund-raising-at-n-y-u.html |url-status=live}} The library was also used for exhibits in the mid-20th century, such as a display of printing mediums{{cite news |date=February 4, 1940 |title=Exhibits Mark 500th Birthday Of Printing Art: New York University Has Four Displays on View at Brandies This Month |page=A8 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1242993596}}}} and a showcase of old maps of the Bronx.{{Cite news |date=October 29, 1951 |title=Early Bronx Maps Shown; N.Y.U. Also Exhibits Photos of Its Campus From 1880 to 1900 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/10/29/archives/early-bronx-maps-shown-nyu-also-exhibits-photos-of-its-campus-from.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606180118/https://www.nytimes.com/1951/10/29/archives/early-bronx-maps-shown-nyu-also-exhibits-photos-of-its-campus-from.html |url-status=live}} The James Arthur Museum of Clocks and Watches, which opened in the basement in 1950,{{cite news |date=November 19, 1950 |title=Arthur Clock Collection Being Shown at N. Y. U |page=40 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1325304146}}}} operated for at least a decade.{{cite news |last=Lapham |first=Lewis |date=February 5, 1961 |title=3,000 Unusual Timepieces Housed in Cellar at N. Y. U |page=8 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1325162401}}}} NYU built additional libraries in the 1950s, since the Gould Library could no longer accommodate all of NYU's collections.

By the early 1960s, NYU's Bronx campus had 5,000 students, just over 10 percent of the university's total enrollment. Though the Bronx campus was the more prestigious of NYU's two campuses, its facilities were in dire need of upgrades. NYU announced a $75 million capital expansion plan for its campuses in 1961, including $1 million for a renovation and expansion of the Gould Library.{{Cite news |last=Currivan |first=Gene |date=April 20, 1961 |title=75 Million Asked to Expand N.Y.U. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/04/20/archives/75-million-asked-to-expand-nyu-20-buildings-and-student-aid.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606181610/https://www.nytimes.com/1961/04/20/archives/75-million-asked-to-expand-nyu-20-buildings-and-student-aid.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=April 20, 1961 |title=75 Million in 3 Years Is N.Y.U. Drive's Goal: Sum Will Be Used for Buildings, Faculty Wages, Aid to Students |page=21 |work=New York Herald Tribune|issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1326877767}}}} The university started fundraising in 1964{{Cite news |date=November 16, 1964 |title=Canopy Sets Mood of New N.Y.U. Plan; 10‐Story‐High Glass Arch to Help Unify Campus at Washington Square |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/16/archives/canopy-sets-mood-of-new-nyu-plan-10storyhigh-glass-arch-to-help.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606180117/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/16/archives/canopy-sets-mood-of-new-nyu-plan-10storyhigh-glass-arch-to-help.html |url-status=live}} and had obtained most of the necessary funds within three years. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the exterior of the Gould Library as a city landmark in March 1966.{{Cite news |date=March 8, 1966 |title=Poe's Cottage Made Landmark; It Is Among Buildings Named by Preservation Group |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/03/08/archives/poes-cottage-made-landmark-it-is-among-buildings-named-by.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606181610/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/03/08/archives/poes-cottage-made-landmark-it-is-among-buildings-named-by.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=March 8, 1966 |title=Dub 8 Houses as Landmarks |pages=267 |work=New York Daily News|issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103271329/dub-8-houses-as-landmarks/ |access-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606180109/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103271329/dub-8-houses-as-landmarks/ |url-status=live}} The NYU campus was the site of several student protests in the late 1960s.{{Cite news |last=Brady |first=Thomas F. |date=April 26, 1969 |title=2D Blaze at N.Y.U. Set by Arsonists; Sage Engineering Library in Bronx Is Damaged -No Motive Is Found Fire Damages Sage Library at N.Y.U. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/04/26/archives/2d-blaze-at-nyu-set-by-arsonists-sage-engineering-library-in-bronx.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606180106/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/04/26/archives/2d-blaze-at-nyu-set-by-arsonists-sage-engineering-library-in-bronx.html |url-status=live}} Amid this unrest, Gould's auditorium was severely damaged by arson in April 1969, though the main library was not damaged.{{Cite news |last=Millones |first=Peter |date=April 18, 1969 |title=Fire Damages N.Y.U.'s Gould Library |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/04/18/archives/fire-damages-nyus-gould-library.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603142602/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/04/18/archives/fire-damages-nyus-gould-library.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=O'Grady |first=Daniel |date=April 18, 1969 |title=NYU Library Fire-bombed; Loss Put at 250G |pages=5 |work=New York Daily News|issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103272400/nyu-library-fire-bombed-loss-put-at/ |access-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606180106/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103272400/nyu-library-fire-bombed-loss-put-at/ |url-status=live}} At the time, Gould had 300,000 books. Marcel Breuer redesigned the auditorium in a brutalist style; the original ornamentation was removed and a wall was constructed in front of the balcony.

File:Looking_through_broken_glass.jpg

The number of students at the Bronx campus decreased by 40 percent from 1968 to 1973,{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=Laurie |date=April 30, 1972 |title=N.Y.U. Unit Asks 50% Cut In Undergraduate Faculty |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/30/archives/nyu-unit-asks-50-cut-in-undergraduate-faculty-nyu-report-asks-50.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200831/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/30/archives/nyu-unit-asks-50-cut-in-undergraduate-faculty-nyu-report-asks-50.html |url-status=live}} creating a large financial deficit for NYU.{{cite web |date=January 8, 2002 |title=Begrisch Hall |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2110.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607162242/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2110.pdf |archive-date=June 7, 2022 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |page=6 |url-status=live}} The New York state government recommended in February 1972 that NYU sell its Bronx campus,{{Cite news |last=Narvaez |first=Alfonso A. |date=February 16, 1972 |title=Rockefeller |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/16/archives/rockefeller-bids-board-here-charge-tuition-at-financially-harried.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200849/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/16/archives/rockefeller-bids-board-here-charge-tuition-at-financially-harried.html |url-status=live}} and governor Nelson Rockefeller authorized the sale three months later.{{cite news |last=Narvaez |first=Alfonso A. |date=May 29, 1972 |title=Rockefeller Signs Bill for Cable TV: 5-man Commission Set Up to Control New Industry |page=21 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|119450366}}}} New York City's public university system, the City University of New York (CUNY), acquired the campus in early 1973 for $62 million, moving Bronx Community College there.{{Cite news |last=Peterson |first=Iver |date=September 19, 1973 |title=N.Y.U. Says It Has Recovered From Brink of Bankruptcy |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/19/archives/n-y-u-says-it-has-recoveredfrom-brink-of-bankruptcy-helpful-trends.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606191757/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/19/archives/n-y-u-says-it-has-recoveredfrom-brink-of-bankruptcy-helpful-trends.html |url-status=live}} BCC moved onto the campus that September. BCC did not use the building as a library, since the stacks were arranged inefficiently, although BCC still used the auditorium for assemblies. The reading room was only used occasionally for parties and other events.{{Cite magazine |last=Engber |first=Daniel |date=March 25, 2005 |title=A Plan to Restore a Gem by Stanford White |volume=51 |issue=29 |pages=B8–B9 |id={{ProQuest|214683664}} |magazine=The Chronicle of Higher Education}} The Gould Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, as part of the Hall of Fame Complex,{{cite web |date=February 3, 1981 |title=Federal Register: 46 Fed. Reg. 10451 (Feb. 3, 1981) |url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/fedreg/fr046/fr046022/fr046022.pdf |access-date=March 8, 2020 |publisher=Library of Congress |page=10649 (PDF p. 179) |archive-date=February 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201110754/https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/fedreg/fr046/fr046022/fr046022.pdf |url-status=live}} and the LPC designated the library's interior as a New York City landmark in 1981.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|ps=.|p=1}}

The Gould Library fell into disrepair during the late 20th century. The library's upkeep was funded through grants from politicians, as well as payments from filmmakers who used the library as a filming location.{{Cite news |last=Arenson |first=Karen W. |date=July 30, 2004 |title=Regilding a Bronx Landmark; Getty Gives Community College a $228,000 Architectural Grant |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/30/nyregion/regilding-bronx-landmark-getty-gives-community-college-228000-architectural.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200846/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/30/nyregion/regilding-bronx-landmark-getty-gives-community-college-228000-architectural.html |url-status=live}} One issue was that, since the library building had few emergency exits, it had a very low seating capacity. In 1996, BCC hired the firm of Platt Byard Dovell to restore the auditorium, and it hired William A. Hall Partnership to design a rehabilitation of the roof. The basement auditorium was restored to its original appearance in 2000 after Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer allocated funding for the project.{{Cite news |last=Kappstatter |first=Bob |date=June 14, 2000 |title=Hall of Fame Grant Offer Has a Catch |pages=227 |work=New York Daily News|issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103318040/hall-of-fame-grant-offer-has-a/ |access-date=June 7, 2022 |archive-date=June 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607164459/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103318040/hall-of-fame-grant-offer-has-a/ |url-status=live}} Ferrer also provided funding for a new sound and lighting system for the library. The J. Paul Getty Trust granted $228,000 for the restoration of the Gould Library and other buildings on the BCC campus in 2004. By then, dirt had accumulated throughout the library; the bookshelves were dangling from the walls; and the skylight atop the reading room was covered by a sheet. Additionally, the steel superstructure of the library had corroded because the steel beams were not galvanized. Conservators used the funds to research the library's history, examine the building's condition, and create a preservation plan.

In 2012, the National Park Service designated the BCC campus, including the Gould Memorial Library, as a National Historic Landmark. BCC was the first community college in the United States to be designated as such.{{cite web |date=November 14, 2012 |title=Bronx Community College becomes first community college to earn National Historic Landmark status |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-community-college-named-national-historic-landmark-article-1.1201244 |access-date=June 3, 2022 |website=New York Daily News|issn=2692-1251 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603141544/https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-community-college-named-national-historic-landmark-article-1.1201244 |url-status=live}} By 2015, a group called Save Gould Memorial Library was advocating for the building to be restored and reused. A spokesperson for Bronx Community College said, "It matters to CUNY, but we've got to keep heat going for students."{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=November 18, 2015 |title=An Opulent Bronx Library in Decay, and in Search of a Purpose |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/nyregion/an-opulent-bronx-library-in-decay-and-in-search-of-a-purpose.html |access-date=June 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602183542/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/nyregion/an-opulent-bronx-library-in-decay-and-in-search-of-a-purpose.html |url-status=live}} The city had provided $4 million for the restoration of the library building, and the Extell Development Company provided additional funds for the digitization of the library's original blueprints. Save Gould Memorial Library estimated that the renovation would cost $50 million. One of the largest issues was the deteriorated condition of the drum, as the entire dome could collapse if the drum were not repaired. BCC began restoring the library in the early 2020s.{{cite web |date=March 22, 2021 |title=Restoring GML – Bronx Community College |url=http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/restoring-gml/ |access-date=June 6, 2022 |website=Bronx Community College |archive-date=June 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607164504/http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/restoring-gml/ |url-status=live}} Gould's dome and oculus were restored at a cost of $18.3 million, and an exit stair was added for $2 million; both projects were completed in May 2023.{{cite web | title=Ribbon-Cutting for Completion of Two Projects on Gould Memorial Library's Renovation at Bronx Community College | publisher=Bronx Community College | date=May 30, 2023 | url=http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/ribbon-cutting-gould-memorial-library/ | access-date=June 16, 2023}}

File:Bronx_Community_College_-_Gould_Memorial_Library_Looking_Up_at_Dome.jpg

According to a 1921 article in The New York Times, the reading room had been "declared by some critics to have no superiors outside of St. Paul's in Rome". Paul Goldberger described the library in 1984 as a "kind of pantheon, surrounded by the long, curving colonnade of one of the most remarkable places in New York".{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=November 4, 1984 |title=Utopia in the Outer Boroughs |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/04/magazine/utopia-in-the-outer-boroughs.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606191757/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/04/magazine/utopia-in-the-outer-boroughs.html |url-status=live}} Three decades later, Christopher Gray of the Times described Gould as "full of brilliant flashes of excitement, like lightning bolts in a grand thunderstorm", in contrast with McKim's design for the Low Library. Columbia University architectural professor Andrew Dolkart said in 2005: "The interior is among the most dramatic and most magnificent in America."

A model of NYU's University Heights campus, including the Gould Memorial Library, was displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904.{{cite news |date=April 5, 1904 |title=Model of N. Y. U. For Fair: Represents College Grounds and Surroundings in Completed Form Model of the New-York University to Be Sent to the St. Louis Exposition |page=1 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|571419669}}}} The library was separately featured in an exhibition presented by the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 1986.{{Cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=May 25, 1986 |title=A Borough's Growth, at Bronx Arts Museum |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/25/arts/a-borough-s-growth-at-bronx-arts-museum.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200844/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/25/arts/a-borough-s-growth-at-bronx-arts-museum.html |url-status=live}}

The Gould Memorial Library, along with other buildings on the BCC campus, has frequently been used as a filming location.{{Cite news |last=Pollak |first=Michael |date=July 25, 2004 |title=F.Y.I. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/nyregion/fyi-409197.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200836/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/nyregion/fyi-409197.html |url-status=live}} The library has been shown in films such as Sophie's Choice (1982), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and A Beautiful Mind (2001). Additionally, the United States Postal Service issued postage stamps depicting notable works by American architects in 1981. The Gould Library was depicted on the stamp representing Stanford White's work.{{Cite news |last=Tower |first=Samuel |date=August 23, 1981 |title=Stamps; Recognition for American Architecture, Part III |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/23/arts/stamps-recognition-for-american-architecture-part-iii.html |access-date=June 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606200841/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/23/arts/stamps-recognition-for-american-architecture-part-iii.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Bruns |first=James H. |date=August 16, 1981 |title=Stamps and Coins |page=F9 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|147316239}}}}

• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in the Bronx
• National Register of Historic Places listings in the Bronx

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Broderick |first=Mosette |title=Triumvirate : McKim, Mead & White: Art, Architecture, Scandal, and Class in America's Gilded Age |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-307-59427-3 |oclc=698447571}}
• {{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1087.pdf |title=Gould Memorial Library Interior |date=August 11, 1981 |website= |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |archive-url= |archive-date= |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981}}}}
• {{cite report |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/79001567.pdf |title=Hall of Fame Complex |date=September 7, 1979 |publisher=National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service |ref={{harvid|National Park Service|1979}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Theodore Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1P5CAAAAIAAJ |title=New York University, 1832–1932 |publisher=New York University Press |year=1933 |isbn=978-0-8147-0221-5}}
• {{cite magazine |year=1902 |title=The New York University and Hall of Fame |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQsaAQAAMAAJ |magazine=Architects' and Builders' Magazine |publisher=W.T. Comstock |volume=34 |ref={{Harvid|Architects' and Builders' Magazine|1902}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Roth |first=Leland |title=McKim, Mead & White, Architects |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-06-430136-7 |oclc=9325269}}
• {{cite book |last1=White |first1=Samuel G. |title=Stanford White, Architect |last2=White |first2=Elizabeth |date=2008 |publisher=Rizzoli |isbn=978-0-8478-3079-4 |page= |oclc=192080799}}

{{commons category|Gould Memorial Library}}

• {{oweb|http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/about-bcc/history-architecture/gould-memorial-library/}}

{{Education in the Bronx}}

{{Libraries in New York City}}

{{National Register of Historic Places listings in the Bronx}}

Category:1900 establishments in New York City

Category:1900s architecture in the United States

Category:Bronx Community College

Category:Former library buildings in the United States

Category:Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City

Category:Library buildings completed in 1900

Category:McKim, Mead & White buildings

Category:National Historic Landmarks in New York City

Category:National Register of Historic Places in the Bronx

Category:Neoclassical architecture in New York City

Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in the Bronx

Category:New York City interior landmarks

Category:New York University buildings and structures

Category:Stanford White buildings