Reviews & Ratings for Aguilar Library

The city's best collection of Latino lit (in its mother tongue) is located in Spanish Harlem. Claro!

by Contributor

The History
Founded in 1886, not twenty years after its namesake's death, the Aguilar branch is named after a 19th-century British poet, novelist and theologian of Sephardic Jewish descent. One of the oldest branches in the system, the Aguilar--relocated to its current site in 1905--was designed by architects Herts and Tallant thanks to funds bequeathed by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The original cast-iron railings and pressed-glass floor remain following the 1996 renovations.

The Collection
True to its neighborhood, which flourished with the arrival of Puerto Rican and other Spanish-speaking immigrants after WWII, this branch of the NYPL has amassed an extensive collection of materials in Spanish.