{"id":50494,"date":"2021-10-29T03:23:04","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T02:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jurn.org\/tentaclii\/?p=50494"},"modified":"2022-04-11T07:23:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T07:23:57","slug":"picture-postals-from-lovecraft-the-entrance-to-the-brooklyn-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/2021\/10\/29\/picture-postals-from-lovecraft-the-entrance-to-the-brooklyn-public-library\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Picture postals’ from Lovecraft: the entrance to the Brooklyn Public Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1941 Brooklyn unveiled a new Public Library, complete with an immense and somewhat Lovecraftian front door. <\/p>\n

Psycho-geographers might imagine it as a ‘trace’ left by Lovecraft’s intensity in Brooklyn, become manifest in the ever-changing architecture of the city. Sadly there appear to be no pictures of it on a misty night in the early 1940s. But I imagine that there could have been a ‘shiver of the eerie’, if one had to pass through this portal on a sepulchral evening when no-one else was around. <\/p>\n

I also wonder if it might have featured as a location in the imaginative fiction of the 1960s? It seems the sort of thing which might have been woven into a story set in Brooklyn. <\/p>\n

Did Lovecraft ever see the designs for this doorway, as published in the weekend papers, shortly before his death? Perhaps to chuckle knowingly and lightly tap the page? We can’t know unless someone can point to a comment made in a late letter, but the timing seems right and we know he was an avid newspaper reader. <\/p>\n

NY Urbanism<\/em>‘s short article on the early history of this Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch<\/a> usefully gives the basic year-dates, stating that…<\/p>\n

In 1935 the library scrapped Almirall’s project [which had become a hopeless ‘political football’] and brought in new architects, Githens and Keally, who stripped the partially completed structure of its ornament, instead proposing to build a more modern building. The new design was completed in 1941 and featured an enormous central entrance glittered with gold surrounded by a blank, unadorned limestone facade.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1941 Brooklyn unveiled a new Public Library, complete with an immense and somewhat Lovecraftian front door. Psycho-geographers might imagine …<\/p>\n

Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-postals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53357,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50494\/revisions\/53357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}