Page:The Carnegie institute and library of Pittsburgh (1916).djvu/6

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

As it stands to-day, the entire institution is known as the Carnegie Library and Institute of Pittsburgh, and, except the Technical Schools, occupies the Central Library Building. This was completed in its present enlarged form and rededicated in April, 1907. There are the Library proper, which, with its outlying branches, is governed by a Board of Trustees of eighteen members and maintained by the city of Pittsburgh; the Music Hall, which is self-supporting; and the Institute, which comprises:

  1. The Department of Fine Arts.
  2. The Department of Museum.
  3. The Department of Technical Schools, housed in special buildings.
  4. Carnegie Library School.[1]

These departments of the Institute are governed by a Board of Trustees of thirty-six members, and are maintained by Mr. Carnegie's endowment. The sum total of his gift up to the present time, including endowments and the cost of buildings, approximates $18,000,000.[2]

The Central Library Building stands in the geographical center of the city, at the entrance of Schenley Park. Rolling hills, ravines, and meadows form an effective background to this massive pile of gray stone, which, having been destined to accommodate four distinct departments, naturally presented a problem to its architects. They have solved it by a practical adaptation of the Italian Renaissance. Its size and cost and the splendor of the materials used were so fully discussed by the press at the time of dedication last April that any detailed description here would be superfluous, and it is enough to say that the building covers an area of four acres, with sixteen acres of floor space exclusive of basements and power-house. The

——————

  1. The Carnegie Library School was made a department of the Institute in April 1916.
  2. This amount is now approximately $25,000,000.

6