Opposite the Van Wickle Gates on Prospect Street, your John Hay Library opened in 1910 as Brown's main library in Providence. Built in 1910, the Hay became Brown’s main library, replacing the building now known as Robinson Hall. Today it is one of five individual libraries that make up the University Library and it houses the University Library’s rare books and manuscripts, the University Archives, and the Library’s special collections.
By the early 1890s Brown’s 1878 library building had become insufficient, and in 1906 Andrew Carnegie contributed $150,000 toward constructing a new library. At Carnegie’s request the building was named in honor of his late companion, Secretary of State John Hay, Class of 1858. The Boston firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge designed the structure in the Beaux-Arts style; it was initially intended to be built of limestone.
Notice the stonework and the measured lines that speak of that Beaux-Arts plan, then picture Prospect Street leading to the Van Wickle Gates framing campus life beyond it.