Some opponents of the New York Public Library’s plan to renovate its Fifth Avenue headquarters, which will involve removing its research stacks, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court to stop the project.
The suit, filed by the nonprofit group Advocates for Justice on behalf of five preservationists and scholars who include the historian David Levering Lewis, accuses the library of violating its charter and the state’s constitution by dismantling seven floors of stacks and removing books from the site. It also says the library failed to conduct an environmental impact review.
“Irreparable harm is imminent,†the suit states. “If the stacks are destroyed, the books â€" the unique and distinguishing asset of the NYPL â€" can never be returned to their rightful place under the Rose Main Reading Room.â€
The library recently applied for building permits from the city but has said they are for “preliminary†work and that a final design has not been completed.
A library spokesman could not be reached for comment. Officials have defended the renovation as necessary to replace the Mid-Manhattan branch, a lending library that has been described as “physically failing.†Space for users of that branch is included in the renovation.
The city is one of the defendants named in the suit, which was reported by the Wall Street Journal, because it is putting up $150 million toward the cost of the project. The renovation had a preliminary estimate of $300 million but library officials have said the estimate, like the design, could change as the project is further defined.
