Boston Public Library Extension

Johnson/Burgee
1973




The front facade

This extension was added to the original Renaissance Revival style library built in 1888-95 by McKim, Mead and White. A quarry was reopened so that the granite of the original building could be used in the addition.
 

The juncture of the original library and the addition

The addition, in a classically derived modern idiom, maintains the same roof line and uses a version of string courses in an attempt at unifying the new addition with the older building.
 

The entrance

Instead of the narrow arches of the original, the addition uses three large bays with arched windows which echo the interior.

A view of the end and a detail of one bay




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