J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library: the Architects' Model

After Morgan engaged McKim, Mead & White to design his Library in 1902, lead architect Charles Follen McKim developed several proposals (including one with a tall cupola) before arriving at the plan embodied in this plaster maquette. The model differs only in modest respects from the completed building. The two arched niches would remain empty; no sculptures were ever installed. Notably missing here are the marble lionesses that Edward Clark Potter would sculpt to flank the entry.