25-most-beautiful-college-libraries-in-the-world

College Search & Selection
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<p>Leanid: IF all the members of the House of Commons show up, there is not room for all of them to sit. Certainly there are seats for most.</p>

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<p>coureur - “Who wouldn’t?”? – well apparently quite a few, as more and more colleges are ‘modernizing’. Sad lack of appreciation for the usefulness of these marvelous tributes to an earlier age.</p>

<p>charlie - Hmm, didn’t consider that the chamber might not have been full! Thanks.</p>

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<p>I think it’s more a lack of money than a lack of appreciation. Maintaining old buildings and upgrading them to accommodate modern library technology and safety requirements ain’t cheap. Neither is building a faux-Gothic modern structure. All that stone work with custom arched doors, ornamentation, stained glass and flying buttresses are going cost you a lot more than will your standard steel and glass building with dry wall on the interior.</p>

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<p>“In response to Leanid’s comment, the British House of Commons was actually rebuilt in the late 1940s after it was damaged by German bombs…”</p>

<p>Several original pieces from the bombed House of Commons were incorporated into the English classroom at the University of Pittsburgh. They were the gift of the British government. The English classroom is one of 27 Nationality Classrooms at Pitt. [Nationality</a> Rooms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Nationality Rooms - Wikipedia”>Nationality Rooms - Wikipedia)
If you’re ever in Pittsburgh, they are well worth a visit.</p>

25

<p>coureur,</p>

<p>Good point. </p>

<p>As for “flying buttresses”, I think those were abandoned when steel framework obviated their function. If they have been incorporated into new ‘gothic’ buildings they are purely decorative.</p>

26

<p>For actual working libraries instead of “Don’t Touch” museum pieces, Dartmouth’s libraries are pretty good: </p>

<p>Exterior shot showing both Dartmouth’s Baker Library (on the left) and Rauner Special Collections Library (smaller building on the right):
<a href=“Dartmouth College Fund |”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/~alfund/assets/jpg/2011_Calendar/march1024x768.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Interior shot of Dartmouth’s Sanborn library:
<a href=“Dartmouth College Fund |”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/~alfund/assets/jpg/2012_Calendar/March1024x768.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;