Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library

The story

A department store became one of New York's most-used libraries. The branch moved into the former Arnold Constable & Company building in 1981, already carrying the circulating collection that the NYPL's grand Main Branch across the street had held for decades. When the city tried to close it in the 2010s, the effort failed — a quiet testament to how much the place was needed. A renovation funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation followed, and the library reopened in 2020 with 1,500 seats and space for 400,000 volumes across seven floors.