Carnegie Library, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York

[LIB11218] - The original Carnegie Library was built in a Classical Revival style of brick with limestone trim and a stone balustrade at the roof. The Greenpoint Star praised it on April 14, 1906 for its “tasteful simplicity." As Greenpoint became the center of a Polish community, English classes were offered and a well-stocked Polish book collection was acquired. The building, structurally unsafe, was demolished in 1970. In 1973 a new one-story library opened on the same site.

Carnegie Library, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York

[LIB11200] - The original Greenpoint Branch, opened in 1906, was one of the first Carnegie Libraries to be constructed in the rapidly expanding Brooklyn Public Library system. Designed by architect R. L. Daus, the building occupied a corner lot at 107 Norman Avenue. The Greenpoint Star praised the library for its elegant simplicity, its golden oak woodwork and fine brasswork, and the Brooklyn Eagle noted reading rooms that were tastefully decorated with potted palms.

By the 1930s excessive dampness and subsidence were causing the building to deteriorate. In 1970 the Department of General Services decided it would be too costly to renovate the building and tore it down.

A new building on the site of the original Carnegie building opened on December 20, 1973. [Website]

Library, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York

[LIB10390] - The original Carnegie Library was built in a Classical Revival style of brick with limestone trim and a stone balustrade at the roof. The Greenpoint Star praised it on April 14, 1906 for its “tasteful simplicity." As Greenpoint became the center of a Polish community, English classes were offered and a well-stocked Polish book collection was acquired. The building, structurally unsafe was demolished in 1970. In 1973 a new one-story library opened on the same site. Although not as grand as its predecessor, it provides the community with a resource for knowledge and a meeting place for a new generation of library users.