If an architect was ever a friend to bibliophiles, his name must be Robert A.M. Stern. And this is no surprise, really, for the man has literary roots: brother of noted Sanskrit scholar Elliot M. Stern, second cousin of Arthur Miller, Stern would seem to have books in the blood and on the brain. This bias shows in his life’s work-edifices with a decided scholarly slant, including public libraries in Nashville, TN, Jacksonville, FL and Lakewood, OH, and the two new residential colleges at Yale-only the largest single building commission in the venerable institution’s history. Among those with academic inclinations, Stern is a living legend; he was the campus master planner for Georgetown University and the Harvard Law School, and he served as Professor of Architecture at Columbia as well as director of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. He is presently the Dean of Architecture at Yale, and his work is on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, the Denver Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. (So I guess we can forgive him for designing the George W. Bush Presidential Library at S.M.U., slated to break ground this year).

Bibliotheque. Designed by Robert A.M. Stern. Manufactured by David Edward.

Though often referred to as a “Post-Modernist,” Stern prefers to think of himself as a “Modern Traditionalist,” a phrase that references his philosophy of appropriateness of place and historical continuity: “the public is entitled to buildings that do not threaten the aesthetic and cultural values of the buildings around them. We do not believe that any one style is appropriate to every building and every place. We strive in our work to create order out of the often chaotic present by entering into a dialogue with the past and with the spirit of the places in which we build.” Lucky for us furniture junkies, this premise of continuity and the quelling of chaos extends to the interior of Stern’s projects, and tangibly so with the Robert A.M. Stern Collection for David Edward, a line of furnishings specifically for libraries designed by Stern.

These pieces are a roster of miraculous consilience, especially for anyone who’s ever admired the towering Corinthian pillars and Gothic porticos of any number of university libraries, only to enter to a disappointing sea of fraying foam and tortured plastic. The antidote to such a malady, Stern’s collection is comprised of two lines: “Bibliotheque” partakes of French revivalism. Consisting of solid wood (darkly-toned Walnut, Oak, or Maple) chairs, upholstered lounges, and tables, as well as a dual-desk reading carrel that would look right at home in Louis’ Versailles, “Bibliotheque” is to my eyes a sort of constrained Baroque, just the ticket for those who require a bit of order among their flights of fancy. “Athenaeum,” to the contrary, is all sweetness and light. Referencing the “strong lines and formality of ancient Greek and Roman architecture,” this collection epitomizes classical notions of beauty. Like Bibliotheque, Athenaeum features a carrel, a pair of solid-wood armchairs, and a reading table (the upholstered lounges are notably absent, perhaps reflecting Stern’s choice to leave luxury to the French). Each of these pieces are done in lighter-toned cherry, thus befitting spacious, light-filled enclaves, such as Stern’s very own Lakewood Public. Whether your literary endeavors tend towards the sublime or a more-rigorously ordered species of beauty, you’ll find a compatible aesthetic among this impressive collection.