Lamont Library
Address11, Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number587
Building Root Number
04932
Architect (Original)
Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbott
Building Acquired
1948
Constructed 1948
Constructed 1948
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named for Thomas W. Lamont (A.B. 1892), a prominent New York banker and Harvard benefactor.Historical NotesLamont Library was designed as an undergraduate library by Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott of Boston. It was built on the site of the Dana-Peabody House (Dana-Palmer House) which was sold to Harvard in 1835. The house was moved across Quincy Street in 1947 to allow for the construction of the library which was completed in 1949.The Farnsworth Room and Woodberry Poetry Room were transferred to Lamont from Widener upon completion. Funds for construction of the library was a gift of Thomas W. Lamont (A.B. 1892),
Additional Information
Donatelli Reading Room
Larsen Computer Room
Ginsberg Reading Room
Farnsworth Room
Woodberry Poetry Room
Winslow, Richard K. “New Kind of Library Will Get Its Test at Harvard Tomorrow: Financed With $1,500,000 Thomas W. Lamonl Gift, Undergraduates’ Reading Rooms Have No Red Tape Barriers Between Readers and Books.” New York Herald Tribune, 2 Jan. 1949, p. A4.
“Harvard Racks Lamont Books In New Library: New Harvard Library Readied for Use.” The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Dec. 1948, p. 4.
King, James F. “Harvard Ready at Last to Open Lamont Library.” Augusta Chronicle, 2 Jan. 1949, p. 28.
“New $1,000,000 Lamont Library at Harvard Ready in Fall of ’48.” Daily Boston Globe, 3 July 1947, p. 11.
“New Lamont Library Harvard Innovation.” New York Times, 18 May 1947, p. 7.
Cutcheon, Byron. “Comfortable Reading Aim Throughout Harvard’s New Lamont Library.” Daily Boston Globe,, 2 Jan. 1949, p. A_5.
“Education in an Easy Chair.” The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Dec. 1949, p. WM10.
“Harvard Begins Task of ‘Trucking’ 80,000 Books Into New Library.” Daily Boston Globe, 19 Dec. 1948, p. C21.
“Harvard Plans Home Comfort In New Library: Lamout Building Will Have Smoking, Typewriting Rooms and Easy Chairs Soprano Leaves for London.” New York Herald Tribune, 25 May 1947, p. 29.
Heskel, Julia. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott: Past to Present. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, 1999.
“Lamont Library, Harvard University.” Architectural Record, vol. 105, no. 6, 1949, pp. 86–95, usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1949-06.pdf.
Gendall, John. “Controversy over Plans to Renovate Aalto Interior.” Architectural Record, vol. 194, no. 8, 2006, p. 28, usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2006-08.pdf.
Campbell, Robert. “Harvard Messes with a Masterpiece.” Boston Globe, 8 Oct. 2006, p. N.4.
Touloumi, Olga. "Sound in Silence: Design and Listening Cultures in the Woodberry Poetry Room." The Journal of Architecuture, vol. 23:6, Sept. 2018, pp. 1003-1029, illus. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13602365.2018.1505771?journalCode=rjar20.
Metcalf, Keyes Dewitt. Planning Acdemic and Research Library Buildings. McGraw Hill, 1965
Records of Lamont Library: Blueprints of Circulations Desks and Cabinet, 1948. Harvard University Archives accession 17042.
Records of Lamont Library: Construction Project Planning and Proposal Records, 1957-1986. Harvard University Archives accession 17043.
Shepley, Henry R. and Keyes D. Metcalf. "The Lamont Library." Harvard Library Bulletin, Vol. 3:1, Winter 1949. Harvard University Archives call number HUF 508.2.
Lamont Library's 40th Anniversary Celebration [videocassette]. Lamont Library call number Z733.L36 L36 1989x.
General Information by and about Lamont Library. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1507.
Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution. Hannah Winthrop chapter, Cambridge. An Historic Guide to Cambridge. 2nd ed., rev. ed., Cambridge, Mass., 1907.
This building has been designated by the University Planning Office as having a Notable Interior.
![Lamont Gate [Demolished]](/internal/media/dispatcher/190968/thumbnail)