Boston Public Library - McKim Building

The McKim Building of the Boston Public Library, designed by Charles Follen McKim and opened in 1895, is an important Beaux-Arts civic building and one of the first large free municipal library buildings in the United States. The building is noted for its architectural symmetry, the long reading room known as Bates Hall, and extensive mural cycles by artists including Edwin Austin Abbey. Its design established a model for monumental public libraries nationwide.