In this more formal elevation, Warren proposed an ornate Beaux-Arts-inspired “Library-Museum,” its entrance flanked by figures representing art and wisdom, water gushing from open-mouthed lions at the pedestals’ feet. Morgan did not pursue Warren’s designs and offered the commission to Charles Follen McKim. Warren was displeased, and he let McKim know it. Warren would visit Morgan in the completed Library in 1908 but apparently held his grudge. As late as 1930 he stated publicly that McKim had taken the Library from him and boasted that he had evened matters by securing a commission McKim, Mead & White had also sought: Grand Central Terminal.
Whitney Warren (1864–1943)
Front Elevation / Proposed Library-Museum for J. Pierpont Morgan Esq. New York, before March 1902
Graphite
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of Mrs. William Greenough; 1943-51-332
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum / Art Resource, NY