Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library is distinguished by the McKim Building, an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo that occupies the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston Streets. Opened in eighteen ninety-five, the structure features a long row of arched windows above a rusticated ground floor, with its primary motto, Free to All, carved into the facade. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, established in eighteen forty-eight to serve the public directly.