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out of city funds, a building for the Library, on the site of the reservoir, and within the limits of Bryant Park. Owing to various legal difficulties which arose out of the consolidation of the former Cities of New York and Brooklyn and other municipalities, the execution of the work was considerably delayed. It was not until the spring of 1899 that the contract was made for the removal of the reservoir. The work of removal began on June 6 of that year.

Prior to that, in 1897, competitions had been held for the selection of architects for the new building. The first competition was open to all architects doing business within the limits of Greater New York. The second was limited to twelve competitors, of whom six were chosen from those taking part in the first competition, and six chosen from other architects. Eighty-eight architects took part in the first competition, which closed July 15, 1897.

The second competition closed November 1, 1897, and the jury of award, composed of three architects selected by the competitors, three members of the Board of Trustees, and the Director of the Library, selected three of the designs as the most meritorious. From these three sets of plans the Board of Trustees selected the one which the jury of award declared to be the best. It was the set submitted by Messrs. Carrère and Hastings, of New York.

The contract for the construction of the building was executed August 26, 1901, but legal difficulties again delayed the beginning of the work. On the 10th of August 1902, however, the work had progressed so far that the corner-stone was laid, under the direction of the President of the Park Department and in the presence of a large number of guests. The exercises consisted of an invocation by the Rev. Dr. William R. Huntington, Rector of Grace Church, and an address by John Bigelow, President of the Library. The corner-stone was then laid and an address delivered by Seth Low, Mayor of the City of New York. This was followed by a benediction by the Most Rev. John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Labor difficulties and other troubles hindered the construction until the delay became an object of satire. The sketch of the two ancient workmen, who are presumably supposed to have been young when the work began, illustrates how frequently the Library was a subject for jest in the press at that time. This sketch, by C. J. Taylor, appeared in the "New York Herald," June 6, 1906. Jules Guérin's painting of the main entrance of the Library, though correct for the most part, is founded upon the preliminary designs. It appeared, long before the building was actually completed, in the "Century Magazine" for August, 1902. Both of these pictures are reproduced in this number of the "Bulletin."

By August 27, 1907, the work on the exterior of the building was finished; by the close of 1909, the construction work was substantially finished, and all that remained to be done was the work on the approaches

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"We will have to put half a dozen more men on this job."
"Why?"

DRAWN BY C. J TAYLOR

"Because the ventilation of the subway may be completed before we finish."

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