New York Public Library - Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is defined by its massive white marble facade and the two famous marble lions, Patience and Fortitude, that flank its Fifth Avenue entrance. This Beaux-Arts landmark occupies the former site of the Croton Reservoir, a mid-nineteenth-century water storage facility that served the city before the library was built. Opening to the public in nineteen eleven after sixteen years of design and construction, the building was the largest marble structure ever attempted in the United States at that time.