Architectural History of Sterling Memorial Library

Music Library

The Music Library was originally located in various rooms and floors of Sprague Memorial Hall from 1917 – 1998, moving around the building as the collection expanded. By the late 1990s the collection had outgrown its home in Sprague Hall, and in 1997 construction began to enclose a courtyard in Sterling Memorial Library and construct a new facility for the Library’s music collection. The Irving S. Gilmore Music Library opened in 1998, providing a home to the Library’s vast music collection, as well as the Historical Sound Recordings and American Musical Theatre collection. 

Designed by Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott as a library within a library, the new Music Library blends modern and Gothic architectural styles. The entrance, located within the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) just next to SML, contains a modern circulation desk and employee work offices. To the right of the entrance is the main reading room, which occupies the former Light Court.

Completed Light Court, circa 1930s

Light Court construction

Spanning three stories high, a curved roof and windows that give indirect light create the feeling of being in an atrium. Steel trusses, stained glass windows, and brick walls provide elements of Gothic architecture that are blended with modern furniture and finishings. The harmonious use of the two styles function to visually represent how SML has evolved to meet the needs of the Yale teaching and research communities.

Music Library entrance, 2021

Music Library ceiling, 2021