The Astor Library Building (also known as the Public Theater Building and Joseph Papp Public Theater) is a theater and former library building at 425 Lafayette Street in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, US. It was built in three stages between 1854 and 1881 for the Astor Library and, since 1967, has housed the Public Theater. The building was one of the first properties designated as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The library was built by William B. Astor, son of the library's founder, John Jacob Astor. The original structure was constructed to designs by Alexander Saeltzer, while subsequent additions by Griffith Thomas (in 1856–1859) and Thomas Stent (in 1880–1881) followed Saeltzer's original design. The building is made of brick and stone and is mostly three stories high, except for the central section, which rises four stories. Inside were features such as a staircase leading to a double-height reading room. The modern-day building has six stages for the Public Theater, which reuse some of the original interiors, including the reading room and lobby.
Work on the building commenced in 1850. The original portion of the building opened for limited use on January 9, 1854, and was opened to general use on February 1, 1854. Partly due to the presence of the Astor Library, bookbinding and publishing firms such as The De Vinne Press and J.J. Little & Co. settled around Lafayette Place. The Astor Library later became part of the New York Public Library, which abandoned the building in 1911, when the books were moved to the newly constructed New York Public Library Main Branch by Bryant Park. In 1920, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society purchased it. By 1965 it was in disuse and faced demolition. The Public Theater (then known as the New York Shakespeare Festival) persuaded the city to purchase it for use as a theater, and it was converted for theater use by Giorgio Cavaglieri, reopening in October 1967. The building was renovated in the early 2010s.
Site The Astor Library (Public Theater) Building is at 425 Lafayette Street, in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The New York City Department of City Planning cites the rectangular land lot as measuring , with a frontage of on Lafayette Street and a depth of . The Astor Place Tower is on the same block to the north, while the De Vinne Press Building, Merchant's House Museum, and Samuel Tredwell Skidmore House are to the south. The former Astor Opera House is diagonally across Lafayette Street and Astor Place to the north. Other nearby buildings include the Colonnade Row directly across Lafayette Street to the west; the Cooper Union to the east; and the Schermerhorn Building to the south.
The building's site was historically part of the estate of German-American businessman John Jacob Astor, who acquired the land in 1803 between present-day Astor Place and Great Jones Street. Astor subsequently built his mansion and horse stable nearby. In the 1830s, the wealthiest New Yorkers started to relocate northward from the present-day Financial District of Manhattan, and settled along Lafayette Place (now Lafayette Street). At the time, the area surrounding Lafayette Place was still mostly undeveloped. Residential development in the area peaked at that time before moving northward in the 1840s and 1850s. The surrounding area became a printing hub after the American Civil War, and there were over 20 publishers nearby by the 1880s.
Architecture The Astor Library Building was built by William B. Astor, son of the library's founder, John Jacob Astor, and consists of three pavilions built in different eras. German-born architect Alexander Saeltzer, who had been the architect of the Anshe Chesed Synagogue, designed what is now the southern pavilion of the building in 1851–1854. The original building spanned , with a height of about . The center pavilion was designed by Griffith Thomas in 1856–1859, and the north pavilion was designed by Thomas Stent in 1880–1881; both expansions followed Saeltzer's original design. The three sections were called the north, middle, and south halls when the building was used as a library.
Contemporary sources characterized the building as a Byzantine-style structure. The building has also been described as Italianate, Venetian, Florentine, Romanesque Revival, round-arched Rundbogenstil, or German Renaissance in style. Much of the interior design dates to a 1966–1967 renovation by Giorgio Cavaglieri.
Facade
The primary elevation of the facade, to the west, consists of two protruding sections flanking a recessed section. The recessed central section rises four stories, () protruding about above the rest of the roof, with a width of . The protruding side sections are three stories. The openings are grouped into fifteen bays. There are loading docks, entrances, and windows on the north and south (side) walls.
The facade rests on a stone foundation and is made of rusticated blocks of brownstone on the ground floor. There is an entrance within the brownstone base. After the second annex (the north pavilion) was constructed, the original entrance in the south pavilion was replaced by a small brownstone stoop. The stoop was cut back in 1912.
Above the ground floor, the facade is made of brick. The upper-story windows have brick arches trimmed with brownstone. There is a cornice with strapwork motifs and a frieze in the Ionic order just below the roofline. A parapet runs above the roof and is topped by urns. On the western elevation, the central section's fourth story has arched sash windows. Above the fourth story is a cornice with brackets, along with a parapet containing finials. The flat roof is paved in asphalt, with some chimneys.
Interior The Astor Library Building's three portions were constructed using different methods; the older portions of the building are constructed using masonry, while later portions were built with an iron frame. The Astor Library Building was one of several late-19th-century buildings in New York City with interior ironwork, at a time when masonry load-bearing walls were still popular. The floor plan is irregular, and there is a basement in addition to the above-ground stories. The modern-day building includes six stages for the Public Theater. Many of the lobby spaces were preserved as part of the 1960s redesign, while the remainder of the theater was renovated to accommodate the stages. The interior retains its elaborate cornices, moldings, columns, and skylights. Other decorations were designed to blend with the historical architecture, including moldings that were treated to resemble wood.
Ground floor The ground (first) floor of the original building had reading rooms on either side and a lecture room at the rear. The original section of the library had a marble staircase with 36 or 38 steps, ascending to the skylit reading room on the second floor. When the first annex (later the central pavilion) was constructed, the ground floor had a reading room in the front and a lecture room in the rear. After the second annex (the north pavilion) was constructed, the original staircase was partially demolished and replaced with a double stair. A marble entrance vestibule occupied the ground level of the central pavilion. Measuring across, it was decorated with statues of Greek and Roman literary figures. There were 24 such statues, resting on marble pedestals. A white marble staircase ascended to the central section of the second floor.
After the building became the Public Theater, the rear of the ground floor was initially used as offices. The lower section of the building contains the Newman Theater, which, with 299 seats, is the building's highest-capacity stage. The Newman Theater has a stage measuring across, comparable in size to a Broadway theater stage. Joe's Pub, a 160-seat, double-tier dining and performance venue with its own street entrance, is accessed from the building's lobby. Added to the rear of the building in 1998, Joe's Pub replaces some offices and storage areas. An expanded lobby mezzanine and an LED chandelier, displaying text from Shakespeare's plays, date from the 2010s renovation. Since 2012, a lounge called the Library has been located within the mezzanine. The lounge, designed by David Rockwell, includes bookshelves with mementos relating to the Public Theater's previous productions.
Upper floors
As built in 1854, the second floor originally had a double-height reading room, which measured about across. The ceiling had an iron-framed skylight measuring across. it was curved at the edges, creating a coved ceiling. The ceiling was supported by 26 cast-iron columns. Behind the columns were galleries measuring wide. Much of the space in the galleries was taken up by balconies and book-storage alcoves. The alcoves, similar to those in other libraries such as the old Boston Central Library's Bates Hall, were spread across two levels, separated from the center of the room by railings. There were seven such alcoves on either side of the room, each with a reading table, along with a hallway alongside the wall. Originally, the alcoves had capacity for 100,000 volumes. Patrons read their books at the center of the room, with additional natural light coming from windows to the west and east. The original reading room was capable of holding about 500 library patrons.
Additional alcoves, within what is now the center pavilion of the building, were built as part of the 1850s expansion, arranged in groups of six to eight. The center pavilion also had a reading room that was about the same dimensions as the original (south) reading room. There were 28 alcoves in each section of the building, each with 123 shelves; these could fit 200,000 volumes between them. A passage led from the original reading room to the center pavilion. Following the 1880s expansion (which added more alcoves), the central section (the Middle Hall) had a reception room with librarians' desks at the front and a ladies' reading room in the rear. There was also a card catalog and delivery desk in the Middle Hall. The original center room and its alcoves were replaced by the North Hall, within the north pavilion, while the reading room in the south pavilion became the South Hall. Large arches led between the three pavilions, and each hall had stairs leading to the galleries.
When the building was converted for theatrical use, the Middle Hall became the Anspacher Theater, later known as the Barbaralee Theater. The Barbaralee Theater has about 275 seats, which are arranged in steeply raked rows on three sides of the reading room, facing a stage on the fourth side. The theater retains the rooms' columns, its skylight, and the balconies' original white balustrades. The cast-iron columns in the reading room were covered in gold leaf with the theater's construction. The promenade behind the columns is used by performers. The South Hall and the North Hall were retained, with their original arches. These halls are used for dance and music performances, respectively. The building also had an experimental theatre venue with between 150 and 175 seats, in addition to a green room. A venue called Martinson Hall was built on the third floor; it became a 208-seat cabaret venue in 1977. Other venues in the building include the 199-seat LuEsther Hall and the 99-seat Shiva Theater.
History Astor Library Development and opening