I had a lot of trouble getting the site to load, so I don't know whether it made the list or not, but I just wanted to show some love for my alma matter's Peabody Library, aka the Beauty and the Beast library (okay, so it wasn't on my campus, but there's a reason for that).
The only one of these I've had the luck to visit in person is the UW Graduate Reading Room. It was absolutely lovely. Almost unfair to have that and their gorgeous public library in the same city.
I'm surprised I've been in two: the Long Room at Trinity and the Harper Library Reading Room at UofC. But oh, I will be at Bodleian someday...<span> </span>
I'm really pleased to see the Michigan Law School library reading room on the list. When I first walked into that library, my exact word was (and I quote), "Whoa." It's lovely.
The Undergraduate Library, on the other hand, was called the UGLi, and not just because it was the UnderGraduate LIbrary. It has since been remodeled, is much more attractive, and goes by another name. It'll always be the Ugli to me.
Whoever compiled that list sure has a thing for ersatz gothic. I suppose that in this country we have some psychological process that goes beauty <-- erudition <-- university <-- university building boom of late 1800s/early 1900s <-- gothic, but it's pretty funny. Most of the American gothic reading rooms on the list are just modified church plans, with the transept either lopped off or turned into a doorway and the apse neutered a bit (to badly mix a metaphor). It's a beautiful kind of space, sure, especially for secular types who don't realize that they're getting their church fix while they're there, but it's not as if there are great differences between Suzallo (where my father stashed me with my comic books for much of my childhood) and Harper and a half-dozen of the other reading rooms on the list or several dozen others that didn't make it.
I'm more impressed by some of the modern spaces on the list, particularly the one (don't remember which) with the cone ascending into the light well.
And Beinecke is more interesting than beautiful. If you go there, you get to look at a Guttenberg Bible and an original folio of Audobon's drawings, both of which are breathtaking, and what is essentially a glass-encased book sculpture in the center of the building. But Beinecke has two huge problems. The first, which architecture teachers have probably said a million times for each book within Beinecke, is that its scale is all wrong. There's a famous doctored photograph of Beinecke and its sculpture well, with a cigarette superimposed at the edge of the well. The point of the picture is that just from looking at it without context, you can't tell if Beinecke is a library, a shed, or a trinket the size of an ashtray. The other problem I have with Beinecke is that its principal feature -- the alabaster panels that filter the light -- always made me feel like the light inside was not just dim, but tired, as if the sun had to fight its way through all that marble.
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I had a lot of trouble getting the site to load, so I don't know whether it made the list or not, but I just wanted to show some love for my alma matter's Peabody Library, aka the Beauty and the Beast library (okay, so it wasn't on my campus, but there's a reason for that).
ReplyDeleteMany of these are quite beautiful. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteMy place of employment will never, ever make this list. Unless it is swallowed by the earth and subsequently rebuilt.
ReplyDeleteWitness the ladies room: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amywatts/106939677/
Fourth floor stacks/study area: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonelypilgrim/2696740694/
The only one of these I've had the luck to visit in person is the UW Graduate Reading Room. It was absolutely lovely. Almost unfair to have that and their gorgeous public library in the same city.
I'm surprised I've been in two: the Long Room at Trinity and the Harper Library Reading Room at UofC. But oh, I will be at Bodleian someday...<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteNow that I got it to load, I'm glad it's on there. It's really a sight (and site) to behold.
ReplyDeleteOkay, Oxford's really pretty. We get it. Jeez.
ReplyDeleteI'm really pleased to see the Michigan Law School library reading room on the list. When I first walked into that library, my exact word was (and I quote), "Whoa." It's lovely.
The Undergraduate Library, on the other hand, was called the UGLi, and not just because it was the UnderGraduate LIbrary. It has since been remodeled, is much more attractive, and goes by another name. It'll always be the Ugli to me.
It's gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWhoever compiled that list sure has a thing for ersatz gothic. I suppose that in this country we have some psychological process that goes beauty <-- erudition <-- university <-- university building boom of late 1800s/early 1900s <-- gothic, but it's pretty funny. Most of the American gothic reading rooms on the list are just modified church plans, with the transept either lopped off or turned into a doorway and the apse neutered a bit (to badly mix a metaphor). It's a beautiful kind of space, sure, especially for secular types who don't realize that they're getting their church fix while they're there, but it's not as if there are great differences between Suzallo (where my father stashed me with my comic books for much of my childhood) and Harper and a half-dozen of the other reading rooms on the list or several dozen others that didn't make it.
ReplyDeleteI'm more impressed by some of the modern spaces on the list, particularly the one (don't remember which) with the cone ascending into the light well.
And Beinecke is more interesting than beautiful. If you go there, you get to look at a Guttenberg Bible and an original folio of Audobon's drawings, both of which are breathtaking, and what is essentially a glass-encased book sculpture in the center of the building. But Beinecke has two huge problems. The first, which architecture teachers have probably said a million times for each book within Beinecke, is that its scale is all wrong. There's a famous doctored photograph of Beinecke and its sculpture well, with a cigarette superimposed at the edge of the well. The point of the picture is that just from looking at it without context, you can't tell if Beinecke is a library, a shed, or a trinket the size of an ashtray. The other problem I have with Beinecke is that its principal feature -- the alabaster panels that filter the light -- always made me feel like the light inside was not just dim, but tired, as if the sun had to fight its way through all that marble.
That would be Gutenberg, not the Three Men and a Baby/Police Academy guy.
ReplyDeleteThat one's at the Huntington.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point about the light in Beinecke. It feels dingy in there to me. (The color scheme inside the building probably doesn't help...)
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ReplyDelete