The Loggia

During Morgan’s day, visitors to his Library entered through a bronze gate along 36th Street and ascended a short flight of steps to the loggia, pictured here. As they approached the massive doors, they stepped across slabs of rose and green marble, the only touches of color against the pink-white blocks of the building’s exterior. Looking up, they would have seen a massive bronze lantern hanging from a vaulted ceiling adorned with marble carvings of notable printers’ marks (emblems).

Morgan purchased the antique statues in the lateral niches through a dealer in Rome in 1909; they were not part of McKim’s design

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