The building's raised first floor has an entrance vestibule, as well as an ambulatory around an octagonal rotunda, which leads to offices on the outer walls.

The library was built as part of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus, which was developed in the 1890s according to a master plan by McKim.

Low Memorial Library is at the center of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, New York City.

[16] Architecture critic Paul Goldberger said of the steps in 1987: "The building itself, for all the power of its immense scale and huge dome, seems almost to recede, deferring to the stairs before it.

[42] An 86 ft (26 m) wide staircase with 22[34] or 26 steps[16] leads from the terrace to the main entrance portico on the building's south facade.

[16] Above the top of the cross, Low's walls, which rise to 100 ft (30 m) above the surrounding terrace, are arranged as an octagonal drum supporting the dome.

[50] The first floor's interior consists of an entrance vestibule on the south side of the building that leads to an ambulatory surrounding a central rotunda.

[58] The center of the trustees' room has a Georgian-style fireplace mantel, which contains a broken pediment holding an iron crown from King's College, the predecessor of Columbia University.

[63] The rest of the vestibule's walls have plaster panels bordered by green-and-gold acanthus-leaf motifs, and band courses with Greek fretwork.

[62] The walls of the long passages have Doric-style limestone pilasters and orange plaster panels, bordered by leaf motifs and band course like those in the vestibule.

[80] Depictions of Roman and Greek luminaries Demosthenes, Euripides, Sophocles, and Augustus Caesar are placed on the balcony along the north wall.

[40] The layout of the second and third stories allowed different specialties to have seminar areas and private study rooms near the stacks corresponding to their subjects.

[99] In April 1892, Columbia University acquired the former site of the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum between Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and 116th and 120th Streets in Morningside Heights.

[102] Low wanted the consultants to collaborate but the process became an architectural design competition in practice, with each architect preparing multiple plans in different styles.

[110][111] The library was to be built at the center of the campus, facing south toward a main entrance on 116th Street; there would also be a court to the north, an assembly hall to the west, and a chapel to the east.

[114] In July 1894 McKim wrote to his partner William Rutherford Mead saying though "the scheme for the Library has undergone many changes", he and his colleagues had devised a suitable revised plan.

[115] The library would be placed on the site's highest point with a dome 300 ft (91 m) above the water level of the nearby Hudson River, and would be surrounded by the other buildings on campus.

[118] Seth Low had contemplated whether the other buildings should be ornately decorated so the trustees could approve of the design but McKim believed the library should have a simple-yet-grand style.

[130] The initial plans called for a marble facade but Low had been hesitant to use such an expensive material, preferring instead to use brick for the library.

[154] Nicholas Murray Butler, who had replaced Seth Low as university president, was observing crowded conditions at the library by 1902;[150] according to American Architect magazine, "One or two utilitarian points have been rather sacrificed.

[162] Williamson began soliciting funds from philanthropist and Columbia alumnus Edward Harkness, and he commissioned James Gamble Rogers to design a new library.

[166] The plan was never realized because large portions of University Hall would have had to be rebuilt to accommodate the weight of the books, and the project was deemed too expensive.

[167] In December 1930 Butler asked Harkness to fund a new building on South Field facing Low from a site across 116th Street.

[173][174] Low continued to host the president's and secretary's offices, the summer session, and the Columbiana and Rare Book Collections.

[187] Among the less-conventional uses of the library's interior in the 1970s was a model airplane club being allowed to use the rotunda to fly miniature aircraft at weekends.

[2] In 2001 Columbia began to renovate Low's roof and add new mechanical systems to plans by David Paul Helpern Associates.

At the time, the building was still open to the public on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.[175] In the early 21st century Low continued to be the location of large events such as protests and rallies.

For example, in 2016, students conducted a sit-in and a "sleep-out" to demand divestment from fossil fuel companies,[190] and a chapter of Extinction Rebellion protested in the building in 2019.

[193] The fifth edition of the AIA Guide to New York City described Low Memorial Library in 2010 as "Columbia University's most noteworthy visual symbol" and a "dignified centerpiece for the campus".

[154][195] Architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson said: "The dome and space overpower while directional orientation to the necessities, such as picking up a book, are afterthoughts.