The New York Botanical Garden Museum (now Library) building was designed by architect Robert W. Gibson and constructed in 1898-1901. It was the first American museum devoted solely to botany; it originally housed the Garden’s preserved botanical specimens. The Museum (now Library) building is a four story structure, with a front façade of over 300 feet in width and a central pavilion surmounted by a copper-clad saucer dome. It was constructed with steel framing and concrete floors, and is clad in light grayish-buff brick, with extensive buff terra cotta ornament.