The Troy Public library is the main public library building in the city of Troy, New York

Troy, New York

Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...

, and is located across the street from Russell Sage College

Russell Sage College

Russell Sage College is a women's college located in Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. It is one of the three colleges that make up The Sage Colleges...

 in downtown Troy. It has two other branches, the Lansingburgh branch and the Sycaway branch. Both branches were temporarily closed in January 2009. The first library began in 1799. The current building was completed in 1897 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, both in its own right and as a contributing property

Contributing property

In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...

 to the Central Troy Historic District

Central Troy Historic District

The Central Troy Historic District is an irregularly-shaped, area of downtown Troy, New York, United States. It has been described as "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the [country]" with nearly 700 properties in a variety of architectural styles from the early 19th to...

.
Funds to construct the downtown library, the Hart Memorial Building, were donated by Mary E. Hart to honor her late husband, William Howard Hart. Designed by the New York City architectural firm of J. Stewart Barney and Henry Otis Chapman Architects, the Hart Memorial Building, now known as the Troy Public Library, is a distinguished and early example of the American Renaissance style. When they came to design the Troy Public Library, Barney and Chapman were working in an emerging and exciting new style. This style evolved with the architectural success of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago which introduced the general public to what had been a more intellectual movement with a limited number of completed projects. Examples of the style prior to construction of the Troy Public Library include the Villard Houses (1886), The Low Library at Columbia University (1894) and the Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...

 (1887).

Exterior Description

The exterior west and south walls of the Troy Public Library are constructed of white Vermont marble. The walls are rusticated

Rustication (architecture)

thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...

 on the first story, and are contrasted with dressed stones, Ashler Masonry, on the upper story. The facades are articulated carved stone courses, water table

Water table

The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...

, and cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

. The ornament surrounding the three windows on the Second Street side are highly detailed. The Ferry Street side of the building is a five bay loggia

Loggia

Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...

 at the second story level. This building is topped by a stone parapet

Parapet

A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...

, with a balustrade over the entrance. The building was described in the 1972, as "one of the finest examples of Italian Renaissance

Renaissance architecture

Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...

style in this country".

External links

• History of the Troy Public Library