Community Board 5, which represents Manhattan’s central business district, has requested that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designate as an interior landmark the main Rose Reading Room at the New York Public Library’s flagship branch.
The proposal comes at a time when the library is fending off criticism for its plan to renovate the Fifth Avenue building.
In a unanimous vote Thursday approving the resolution, the board described the reading room as “one of the great library spaces in the world, comparable to other distinguished spaces such as Bibliotheque St. Genevieve in Paris, Wren’s Trnity Library in Cambridge, England and the Austrian National Library in Vienna.â€
The library’s renovation, designed by the British architect Norman Foster, is planned for the area now occupied by stacks so would not affect the Rose Reading Room. Mr. Foster has proposed only minor changes the library’s exterior, which is landmarked, and Board 5 and the landmarks panel has approved them.
Asked to comment on the resolution, the library said through a spokesman: “We’re aware of it.â€
The Landmarks Commission said it is “actively reviewing†the proposal, which if approved would require the library to seek the panel’s approval before any significant changes could be made to the reading room.
