The morning call., 1893-07-21
THE NEW LIBRARY
Convenient Quarters IN
the City Hall.
AN ABUNDANCE OF SPACE.
The Rooms to Be Occupied Are Well
Lighted and Elegantly Appointed
in Every Way.

The one hundred thousand volumes
which constitute San Francisco's puoic
library that at present occupies very III
convenient quarters in the Larhln-streeI
wing of the new City Hall are soon TO be
remoyed TO another part of the bullulng,
where the Librarian and his assistants VIII
have the space and the opportunity 70 ar
range the books and periodicals in way
that will most advantageously serve the
reading public.
The new rooms are situated In the north
east wing OF the hall, and the workmen are
now putting on the finishing touches on
what is said to be, for its size, the pest ap-
pointed library in the country
SIT will take about six weeks yet before
the painters and cleaners get through,
said John Vance Cheney, the City Libra
riau. Yesterday, land then TWO weeks more
will be necessary to move the books, SO
that the new rooms will not be ready for the
public much before the middle OF Sep
tember.
But the advantages of our new quarters
will well repay the delay. for the patrons
OF the library can hardly imagine the I'M,
provements in the service when we VIII
be able to render"
The entrance to the new library is from
McAllister street, and the entire space OF
The second and third floors OF the wing
will be occupied. There are doors opening
out into the main corridor of the building
ON both floors, but it is the intention to
keep three closed, so as 90 separate tne
library entirely from the rest of the hall,
and as much as possible to give 1t The
effect of being in another building.
49, rN4 a 10 n
Allister-street side. west Of the Hall OF
Records, a massive iron stairway at the
left leads directly 10 the entrance OF the
library.
At the head Of the stairway is hand
some antech amber, which will be oceu-
pied by the doorkeeper. The floor is Of
white Colon bian marble. with border OF
black Belgian granite, while the walls are
of clustering white.
The main lbrary-room contains 10000
square feet of floor 9 ace. hle there are
$500 square feet additional in the gallery,
which is on level with the third story OF
the structure and which is to be used as
reading-rOom.
The roof above the library is supported
by four iron girders 126 feet inches in
length, making a clear span of that dis
tance across the room. These grders
measure rs inches in height, and it Is pos
sible for a man to walk through them
without stopping.
At the time they were put in place they
were the largest ever used in the country,
but since then larger ones have been used
in the Auditorium in Chicago.
The furniture of the library Is finished
in white mahogany. On the main floor
there are forty-five double bookcases, orna-
mental in design and supplied with patent
1atchets for the shelves. The cases are
ten feet in height and from ten to twenty
feet in length. In addition TO these there
are geo feet of ornamental wall-cases,
which supply 5000 running feet of shelv-
ing.
A counter fifty feet in length, also
finished In white mahogany, extends
along the east side of the room, at one end
of which books will be received and at
the other delivered. The counter is orna-
mented with a handsome bronze grill
guard, and electric light fixtures are STA
toned every six feet along the guard.
The gallery is supported by iron COL
umns. on the capitals of which rests an
ornamental iron scroll, finished in old
ivory, which gives it the appearance of
airy lightness and relieves it Of the least
suggestion OF heaviness.
Around the inside of the gallery runs an
iron balustrade, decorated in white and
gold, and surmounted by hand rail of
mahogang. Each of the posts around the
balustrade Is tipped with an electric light
fixture.
The gallery Is reached by four iron
stairways, also finished in white and gold.
Two of these are for the public and two
for the use Of the librarians assistants.
The readlng-room is fitted up with all
sorts of tables for the use of patrons.
A flood of light pours down through an
opening in the ceiling. thirty-eight feet
above the floor and 10 by "a feet in size.
In addition to this, nine large windows on
the different sides make 1t possible to read
in any part of the room. From the ceiling,
also, there are drops for fifteen chandp-
liers, which. in addition sto the side
brackets and those along the balustrade,
will light the room well ct night.
From the southeast corner Uf the main
floor door opens into the room for bound
newspapers, and directly over this and
opening from the gallery is the room for
bound periodicals, while just SIS a hall
way is separate department for the Pat
ent Office reports.
All these rooms are furnished with
shelves and tables finished in mahogany.
and attached to each one is ''workroom"
where the cataloguing for that departmen mt
will be done.
The secretary has commodous offices on
the main floor. while the librarians private
office opens off the gallery.
The total expense OF the new quarters
has been about 100000. OF this amount t
two-thrdS was required TO complete the
wing, while the remaining $4,000 has been
used in putting In the furnishings Of the