Over the past couple of days, the Bill Blass Catalog Room at the New York Public Library's 42nd Street building was being fitted with a massive new mural on the ceiling, recreating an original piece of art that stood there for over 100 years.
Part of the Stephen A. Schwartzman building's ongoing renovation work, which also includes work on the iconic Rose Reading Room, the restoration team at EverGreene Architectural Arts worked to recreate the 27-by-33-foot mural created by James Wall Finn in 1911.
Here's a look at them working in their studio prior to the installation:
The original mural was assessed by a fine arts curator and deemed beyond repair. Parts of the ceiling also needed repairs and reinforcement, that were conducted prior to the mural being installed.
Here's what the Bill Blass room looked like prior to the installation:
"It is important that the Library be a great steward of all of its buildings, including the iconic 42nd Street Library and its historic reading rooms," Tony Marx, the NYPL President said in a press release. "The existing work was a golden opportunity to restore the original spirit and beauty of this mural, keeping the Bill Blass Catalog Room and the Library as inspiring and stunning as the day it opened in 1911."
Recreated at a cost of $45,000, work on installing the mural began on April 6, and wrapped up the following day. EverGreene Architectural Arts is the same firm that worked to restore Finn's mural in the Rose Reading Room back in 1998.
So here, finally, are images of the mural being installed:
The library anticipates the renovation projects to end before their original deadline in 2017 with a reopening now scheduled for sometime this fall.
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