Libraries and Museums. For many years the Astor Library, founded under the will of John Jacob Astor, who died in 1848, leaving $400,000 for the purpose, was the only free library of importance in the city. The Mercantile Library, which was founded in 1820, is a subscription library with more than 230,000 volumes. The Astor Library, in Lafayette Place, is entirely for reference, and is visited by about 125,000 readers every year. The Lenox Library (reference), at Fifth Avenue and Seventieth Street, the gift of the late James Lenox, was opened to visitors in 1877. In 1895 the Astor and Lenox libraries and the Tilden trust fund were consolidated as the New York Public Library (q.v.). The number of volumes is now over 785,000. The new building for the Public Library, a vast structure of white marble, 366 feet long and 246 feet wide, is upon the site of the old reservoir at Fifth Avenue, between Fortieth and Forty-second streets. Its estimated cost is about $5,000,000. It has shelving capacity for 1,250,000 volumes. The first circulating library dates from 1880. There are now sixteen circulating libraries and reading rooms, which form a part of the general system, the New York Public Library, the New York Free Circulating Library, and other libraries having been consolidated in 1901. In the same year Andrew Carnegie offered the city $5,200,000 for the purpose of building branch libraries on condition that the city furnish sites. Some sixty libraries will be built under this gift. The first one was opened in January, 1903. The library of Columbia University contains about 325,000 volumes, of which 10,000 are in the reference room open to the public. The Cooper Union Library contains about 32,000 volumes, the chief feature of which is a complete set of patent office reports. Among the private libraries of importance are those of the Historical Society, the Geographical Society, and the New York Society Library. The last, founded in 1754, has about 100,000 volumes. There are also special collections of books belonging to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the New York Academy of Medicine, with 46,000 volumes, the New York Law Institute, having about the same number, and the Bar Association.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the most important in this country, for which a superb series of buildings on the east side of Central Park is projected, and partly completed, is the outcome of a public meeting held in 1869. Gifts came in so rapidly from citizens that the Legislature authorized the building of a fire-proof structure in Central Park at a cost of $500,000. This was formally opened in 1880. During the last twenty-five years a collection of art objects of every description, to the value of several million dollars, has been gathered, chiefly by gifts from public-spirited citizens. There are paintings, statuary, porcelains, ivories, tapestries, musical instruments, and Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities. In 1902 a handsome entrance wing facing on Fifth Avenue was finished. The Rogers bequest of $6,000,000 will enable the Museum to make great progress. The American Museum of Natural History, on Central Park West, contains vast collections of stuffed animals, birds, reptiles, fishes, shells, and fossils. The main lecture hall will seat 1000 persons. Museums of great interest are maintained also by the Historical Society, Columbia University, and the Lenox Library, the last named having a fine picture gallery.
Theatres, Clubs, Hotels. New York has about 40 theatres, in addition to almost as many more variety houses and concert halls. The largest is the Metropolitan Opera House, opened in 1883, which occupies the block bounded by Broadway, Seventh Avenue, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth streets. It seats 3200 persons. Among the largest and most luxurious of the theatres, most of which are on or near Broadway, are the Broadway, at Forty-first Street; the Casino, at Thirty-ninth Street; the Criterion, at Forty-fourth Street; Daly's, at Thirtieth Street; the Knickerbocker, at Thirty-eighth Street; the Empire, at Fortieth Street; the Herald Square, at Thirty-fifth Street; the Garrick, in Thirty-fifth Street; the Manhattan, at Thirty-third Street; Wallack's, at Thirtieth Street; the Savoy, in Thirty-fourth Street; the Victoria and Belasco's, at Forty-second Street; the New York, at Forty-fifth Street; and the Majestic, at Fifty-ninth Street. In other parts of the town should be mentioned the American Theatre, at Eighth Avenue and Forty-second Street; the Garden Theatre, at Madison Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street; and the Irving Place Theatre, a German high-class theatre, at Fifteenth Street and Irving Place. Among the newest theatres are the Lyceum, in Forty-fifth Street, and the Hudson, in Forty-fourth Street. The most important music hall of the city is that built by Andrew Carnegie at Fifty-seventh Street and Seventh Avenue, which is known by its founder's name. It was opened in May, 1891. It is one of the finest concert halls in the world, and cost more than $1,000,000. The main hall seats 3000 people, and there are two smaller concert rooms. The most important concerts of the season, such as those of the Philharmonic Society, the Boston Orchestra, and the Oratorio Society, are given here. Mendelssohn Hall, a beautiful music room occupied by the Mendelssohn Glee Club, in West Fortieth Street, is used for many of the smaller concerts, recitals, etc. The total seating capacity of New York's places of amusement has been estimated at over 80,000. The Harlem section also has several fine theatres, among which are the Harlem Opera House, near Seventh Avenue on 125th Street, and the West End Theatre, on 125th Street west of Manhattan Avenue. The Star Theatre, at Lexington Avenue and 107th Street, is also a large house.
The clubs of New York number more than 200. The oldest and most conservative of the non-political clubs is the Union, at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-first Street, organized in 1836. The Union League Club, at Thirty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, is the largest political club. The most important club of artists and literary men is the Century Association, organized in 1847, which possesses a beautiful building in West Forty-third Street. Among other noted clubs may be mentioned the Army and Navy, City, Calumet, Colonial, Grolier, Knickerbocker, Lawyers', Lotus, Metropolitan, New York, Players', Progress, Reform, and University. The Players' Club, as its name implies, has a membership largely composed of theatrical people. Its beautiful home on Gramercy Park, costing $250,000, was presented to the club by the distinguished tragedian Edwin
