Central Library in Copley Square
🏢 Boston Public Library — Boston, Massachusetts
Central Library in Copley Square
The Boston Public Library's flagship is a Renaissance palace on Copley Square where marble lions guard a grand staircase beneath murals by Sargent, Puvis de Chavannes, and the barrel-vaulted hush of Bates Hall.
🕑 Library Hours
| Monday | 9 AM – 8 PM |
| Tuesday | 9 AM – 8 PM |
| Wednesday | 9 AM – 8 PM |
| Thursday | 9 AM – 8 PM |
| Friday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Saturday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Sunday | 11 AM – 5 PM |
Hours may vary on holidays.
📍 Location & Contact
Address: 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116
Phone: (617) 536-5400
Website: bpl.org
📖 About Central Library in Copley Square
Charles Follen McKim's McKim Building opened in 1895 as part of America's first large free municipal library, conceived as a "palace for the people" and modeled on Italian Renaissance palazzi and the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris. Daniel Chester French designed its monumental bronze entrance doors, and two couchant Siena-marble lions by Louis Saint-Gaudens flank the grand staircase as Civil War memorials to the 2nd and 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry regiments. The staircase rises past the only mural installation Pierre Puvis de Chavannes ever made outside France, and culminates in Bates Hall, a soaring reading room capped by a coffered, barrel-vaulted ceiling; on the third floor, John Singer Sargent devoted more than thirty years to an unfinished mural cycle he began discussing with McKim in 1890. The National Park Service designated the McKim Building a National Historic Landmark in 1986. Adjacent stands the 1972 Boylston Street (Johnson) Building by Philip Johnson, reopened in 2016 after a renovation that transformed it into a bright, open contemporary space housing the library's largest circulating collection.
⭐ What makes this branch special
- McKim Building (1895), a National Historic Landmark designed as a "palace for the people"
- Bates Hall reading room under a 50-foot barrel-vaulted, coffered ceiling
- Murals by John Singer Sargent and Puvis de Chavannes; bronze doors by Daniel Chester French
- Adjoining 1972 Philip Johnson building, renovated in 2016 for the main circulating collection
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❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Why are there marble lions on the main staircase?
The two couchant lions carved from single blocks of Siena marble by Louis Saint-Gaudens are memorials to the 2nd and 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry regiments of the Civil War, flanking the grand staircase that leads up to Bates Hall.
Where can I see the John Singer Sargent murals?
Sargent's mural cycle occupies the skylit hall on the third floor of the McKim Building. He worked on it for more than thirty years after first discussing the commission with architect Charles McKim in 1890, and it remained unfinished at his death in 1925.
What is the difference between the McKim and Johnson buildings here?
The 1895 McKim Building holds the research collections and the library's historic art and reading rooms, while the connected 1972 Boylston Street building designed by Philip Johnson, renovated in 2016, houses the largest circulating collection along with Teen Central and the Children's Library.