The Low Memorial Library is a building at the center of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, New York City, United States. Designed by Charles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead & White, the building was constructed between 1895 and 1897 as the central library of Columbia's library system. Columbia University president Seth Low funded the building and named it in memory of his father, Abiel Abbot Low. Its facade and interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is also a National Historic Landmark. Low is shaped like a Greek cross and is four stories tall, excluding a ground-level basement. The first floor contains an ambulatory around an octagonal rotunda. The stacks had space for 1.5 million volumes. The building was poorly suited for library use, but its central location made it a focal point of the university's campus. Following the completion of the much larger Butler Library in 1934, Low was converted to administrative offices. (Full article...)