🏢 Brooklyn Public Library — Brooklyn, New York

Stone Avenue Library

A whimsical castle-like Carnegie library in Brownsville, Stone Avenue opened in 1914 as the Brownsville Children's Library — believed to be the first library building in the country designed exclusively for children.

📖 About Stone Avenue Library

Stone Avenue opened on September 24, 1914 as the Brownsville Children's Library, widely credited as the first public library building in the United States designed exclusively to serve children. Architect William B. Tubby — who designed four Carnegie branches for Brooklyn — gave it a fanciful Jacobean-influenced, castle-like form that deliberately breaks from the grand central entrances typical of Carnegie libraries. Inside, an airy reading room with carved Jacobean ceilings, a storybook fireplace, and open stacks was built at a child's scale, while the facade carries a carved stone relief of an open book and a band depicting the Seal of the City of New York with its beavers, windmill and flour barrels. The branch later broadened its mission beyond children and was renamed Stone Avenue after World War II; the surrounding boulevard was ultimately renamed for Rosetta 'Mother' Gaston, who ran her Heritage House African American history programs from within the library. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 2009.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• Opened 1914 as the first U.S. library building designed just for children
• Whimsical Jacobean, castle-like design by architect William B. Tubby
• Facade carved with an open book and the Seal of the City of New York
• Designated a New York City landmark in 2009

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