History of the McKim Building: Reading Room Floor: The Book Delivery Room
A history of the McKim Building at the Boston Public Library with resources about the architects and artists who helped to create the building.
The Book Delivery Room now The Abbey Room
When the library opened the Book Delivery Room where patrons requested, checked out and returned books. It is now known as the Abbey Room after the large mural paintings depicting The Quest of the Holy Grail by the American artist, Edwin Austin Abbey that decorate the walls.
This room is entered from the south end of the Chavannes Gallery and is 64 feet long by 33 feet wide. The ceiling is decorated with heavy ornamental rafters. The mantle of the fireplace in the east wall is made of rouge antique marble. The wainscot is made of dark-colored oak, and the floors are of Istrian and red Verona marble.
See photographs of the Abbey Room murals on the Boston Public Library's Flickr account.
