Two Marble Lions Guard A Grand Reading Room
Past the two marble lions, a cathedral-scale reading room and free rotating exhibitions fill this 1911 landmark at 42nd Street.
🦁 Past the lions
Patience and Fortitude, the two marble lions carved in 1911, still flank the steps at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Push through the doors into Astor Hall and the scale takes over, all pale marble and vaulted stone. The Rose Main Reading Room stretches nearly the length of a city block, its long oak tables lit by bronze lamps under a painted-sky ceiling. Anyone can walk in, claim a seat, and read for the afternoon at no cost. Rotating exhibitions in the side galleries pull rare maps, manuscripts, and first editions out of the stacks.
