ed cathedral aesthetics and the university's timid anti-modernism. Many students of architecture leveled similar criticisms. Others responded to the building's fusion of academic purpose and ecclesiastical architecture, asserting that the project was either sanctimonious or sacrilegious. More recent reviews have praised the building's ambition, beauty, and pragmatism.
The library is situated on Yale's Cross Campus, the central quadrangle of the university. Surrounding buildings, including Berkeley College, Trumbull College, and Sterling Law Building were designed by Rogers and built in the same period and Gothic Revival style as the library.
The entrance hall of the library is known as the "nave" because its plan imitates the main approach of a cathedral. At its western terminus is a chancel containing an ornate circulation desk and altarpiece mural painted by Eugene Savage. Constructed of Indiana limestone and Ohio sandstone blocks, the nave is a self-supporting stone structure with none of the steel reinforcement used elsewhere in the library. It is elaborately decorated with stone and wood carving, ironwork, stained glass windows, and ceiling bosses. The main hall is flanked by two aisles, which originally held card catalogs for the library bookstacks. Though the original catalog drawers remain in the aisles, the cards have been removed and the aisles converted to seating areas and a computer lab. At its western end it is intersected by a transept, which leads to the library's main reading room on one end and its wing on the other. For many years, smoking was allowed in the nave, which left a layer of soot on its upper levels. Beginning in 2013, the nave underwent a $20-million, yearlong renovation to clean its surfaces, restore its architectural details, overhaul building systems, and reconfigure visitor circulation and services.
Fifteen levels of library materials, primarily books, are housed in the building's tower, commonly referred to as the "Stacks." Originally intended to house 3.5 million volumes, it is a seven-story structure, with eight mezzanine levels interleaved between the main stories. Although encased in a Gothic exterior, the tower's structural system is a welded steel frame, which permits a vertical rise that traditional Gothic techniques would not. The crennalated roof of the tower is elaborately decorated, complete with a castle-like housing for air handling equipment.
Placed end-to-end, the full length of the tower's shelves is estimated at 80 miles (130 km), contained within 6.5 miles (10.5 km) of aisles. In addition to the library collections, the tower houses reading rooms, study carrels, library offices, and special collections, including the Babylonian Collection. Access to the Stacks is restricted to affiliates of the university and library patrons.
Four reading rooms are situated near the nave on the first floor of the library:
- Starr Reading Room, the main reading room of the library, is situated at the south end of the library, adjacent to Trumbull College. It is a reference room designed in the style of a monastic refectory. Under a barrel vaulted ceiling, the room is lined with traceried windows and oak bookshelves decorated with a botanical frieze. A 1998 restoration was funded by The Starr Foundation.
- The Periodical Reading Room, lined with oak shelves like those of the main reading room, is accessible from a vestibule on the north side of the nave. The room can hold 1,800 periodicals and features windows decorated with signs of the zodiac to symbolize periodicity.
- Linonia and Brothers Reading Room, a Tudor-style browsing room at the building's northeast corner. It is named for Yale's two eighteenth century literary societies, Linonia and Brothers in Unity, and holds approximately 20,000 books. Intended to be a "gentlemen's club" for leisure reading, it was not opened to women until the 1960s.
- Franke Family Reading Room, originally a room for frequently-used materials known as the Reserve Book Room, is in the library's southeast corner. Its collections were moved to Cross Campu