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Tomorrow, the Landmarks Preservation Commission is scheduled to create the first landmarks of 2009. Five buildings will share the honor including two public libraries on 125th Street in Harlem.  The George Bruce Library (left) is located at 518 West 125th Street at Amsterdam Ave. The 125th Street Branch(right) is located at 224 East 125th Street near Third Ave.

The Municipal Art Society has posted a slide show of all the buildings the LPC is considering for designation tomorrow here:  MASNYC

Read the history of these two buildings after the jump.

New York Public Library, George Bruce Branch, 518 W. 125th St.

The three-story Georgian Revival-style, brick and limestone library was completed in 1915 and designed by Carrere & Hastings, the prominent architecture firm responsible for the main branch of the New York Public Library, Grand Army Plaza at 59th Street in Manhattan, the Manhattan Bridge Arch and Colonnade and Staten Island Borough Hall, all of which are New York City landmarks.

The branch is named for George Bruce, a wealthy Scottish typographer who immigrated to New York in the late 18th century. After his death, his daughter, Catherine, established a library in his memory that originally opened along 42nd Street in 1888. It later was sold, and the proceeds used to construct the current branch.

The entryway, set into a large arch on the east side of the building, is comprised of a set of wooden doors a large transom that’s flanked by historic copper lanterns and topped by an ocular window. The second-floor features three large windows with flared lintels, while the third has four smaller windows with center keystones.

New York Public Library, 125th St. Branch, 224 East 125th St.

Constructed in 1904, the three-story building was designed the Italian Renaissance palazzo style by McKim, Mead & White, another important architecture firm best known for several New York City landmarks, including the Bowery Savings Bank, Low Memorial Library, the Brooklyn Museum and the Villard Houses.

The library was one of 67 that were created between 1901 and 1929 through a $5.2 million grant from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie to the City of New York to create a citywide library system. McKim, Mead & White designed 12 Carnegie libraries, and Carrere & Hastings designed 14 of them. Fifty-four of the Carnegie libraries remain in operation today.

The building, clad in rusticated Indiana limestone, is dominated by large arched windows on the first and second floors. Three small, square windows pierce the façade on the third floor.

The designations of the 125th Street and George Bruce branches bring to 18 the number of New York Public Library buildings that have received landmark status since the Commission’s founding in 1965.

“Both of these libraries are outstanding examples of civic architecture and their designs reflect the noble purpose they served,” said Chairman Tierney, who thanked the New York Public Library for its support of the designations of the libraries.