52 feet high. Characterized by Robert A. M. Stern as one of the United States' largest column-free rooms, it is nearly as large as the Main Concourse at Grand Central Terminal. It was originally described as being in the Renaissance architectural style, but Matthew Postal described the room as having a Beaux-Arts design. Half of the space was used as an office and service center prior to the late 1990s. The Main Reading Room was renovated and renamed for the Rose family in 1998–1999; and further renovations to its ceiling were completed in 2016. The room became a New York City designated landmark in 2017. The room is separated into two sections of equal size by a book-delivery desk. The desk is made of oak and is covered by a canopy, with arches held up by Tuscan columns. The north hall leads to the Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room, while the south hall leads to the Art and Architecture Reading Room, both of which are designed in a similar style to the main room. Picture taking is only allowed in a small section of the south hall. The doorways into the Main Reading Room contain large round pediments, which contrast with the smaller triangular pediments in the branch's other reading rooms. There is intricate detail on the room's smaller metalwork, such as doorknobs and hinges. The floors of the Main Reading Room and the connected Catalog Room are composed of red tiles, with marble pavers set in between the tiles, which indicate how the furniture should be arranged. The marble pavers demarcate the boundaries of the aisles. The Main Reading Room is furnished with low wooden tables and chairs. There are two arrays of tables in each hall, separated by a wide aisle; each table has four brass lamps. The tables each measure . Originally, there were 768 seats, but this was reduced to 490 in the late 20th century. The seating capacity has since been increased to 624 or 636. Each spot at each table is assigned a number. The room is also equipped with desktop computers providing access to library collections and the Internet, as well as docking facilities for laptops. The NYPL installed 48 desktop computers near the central book-delivery desk. Thirty of the room's forty-two wooden tables have power outlets, while twelve of the tables have no outlets and are intended only for reading. Readers may