NYU Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York City, Guide du visiteur et quoi faire à proximité

The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library is the flagship of New York University's library system and one of the most striking modernist buildings in Greenwich Village. Rising 12 storeys above Washington Square South, it holds the heart of NYU's collection of nearly 6 million volumes.

The library was designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster and completed in 1972. It was funded by a $11.5 million donation from Elmer Holmes Bobst, a pharmaceutical industry magnate who was a personal friend and advisor to President Richard Nixon.

The building's most dramatic feature is its interior atrium, a vast open space surrounded by tiers of balconies that rise through all 12 floors. The atrium was designed to flood the building with natural light, and the effect is striking from any level.

Before the Bobst Library was built, NYU's collections were scattered across multiple buildings on the Washington Square campus. The new library consolidated everything under one roof, creating a central hub for academic life.

The library is primarily for NYU students and faculty, but visitors can sometimes access the lobby and ground-floor exhibition spaces. It sits just south of Washington Square Park, next to the Washington Square Arch.

If you're on a Questo quest through Greenwich Village, the Bobst Library is a stop where the architecture is as much a statement as the 6 million books inside.