Tubby and Pratt

Once I got over my childish enjoyment of his name, I learned that William Bunker Tubby was a well respected NYC architect at the turn of the century.    He designed the library at the Pratt Institute, along with three other buildings on campus and many homes for the Pratt family.  The home he designed for Pratt’s eldest son, Charles Millard,  is actually famous as one of the best examples of Romanesque Revival designs in the country!  According to Brownstoner.com the mansion is now the Bishop of Brooklyn’s official residence, which is quite a perk, as I imagine just the upkeep and operational costs are exorbitant.  Brownstoner offers a fabulous detailed description of the home at their website. 
Pratt actually had mansions built for his four sons as wedding presents right on the same block in the Clinton Hill neighborhood, which is certainly one way to increase your property value.   
The Pratt Institute Free Library, built in 1888, is another one of Tubby’s Romanesque Revival building and a designated city landmark.  The interior of the library is equally beautiful and was designed by a company you may have heard of,  The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.  The elaborate marble center staircase and elegant metalwork throughout are stunning.  Check out the lovely old pictures at their website.   But the really amazing thing about the Pratt Library is that when it opened in 1888 it was a FREE and truly PUBLIC library.  F. William Chickering, Former Dean of Libraries, wrote that Charles Pratt wanted the library to be opened to all citizens of Brooklyn regardless of sex, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status.  That is really saying something considering the times.  
By July of 1888 there were 284 free members of the library.  The library was wildly popular and expanded quickly...a familiar story for libraries everywhere.  Pratt went on to open a branch at Greenpoint (at his apartment experiment) and in Long Island - both branches were eventually were absorbed by the Brooklyn Public Library in the 1900s.  The Pratt Library was also the home to the School of Library Economy (now the School of Information and Library Science) and a museum.  
By the 1980s the library school and the museum had both moved to their own spaces and the library was updated, renovated, preserved and added on to.  It emerged better than ever and ready to receive a new designation as a New York City Landmark.  There is a little bittersweet taste to our happy ending because, according to Montrose Morris,  the library has been private since 1941.     
Tubby designed five more libraries (Carnegie libraries) as a member of the Architect’s Advisory Commission in Brooklyn, NY. and had a long and successful career designing public and private building in NY and CT.  He lived in Brooklyn Heights for most of his career and eventually retired to Greenwich, CT.  
Tubby’s relationship with Pratt even stretched into the next world.  He was hired to design and build the Pratt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum in Long Island:

Copied from was The True Democrat of Bayou Sara, Louisiana; publish date of September 12, 1896:

An Expensive Death Vault
The heirs of the late Charles Pratt, a rich millionaire who died some time ago in Brooklyn, decided to build an expensive vault for the last resting place of his ashes. The vault will be constructed of the finest quality of marble and will be elaborate in design. It will cost $190,000, in addition to which the sum of $60,000 will be set aside for the proper care and maintenance of this handsome monumental structure. In furtherance of this plan agreed upon by the heirs a part of Mr. Platt's estate near Glen Cove, L. I., has been set aside as a private cemetery and there the vault will be erected.-Atlanta Constitution.