Construction on Butler was begun in 1931 and the dedication ceremony was held in 1934. It was built in response to a space crunch at Low Library, which after 30 years had become too small to hold Columbia's growing collection. Discussions for a new library began in 1927 when the university librarian addressed a 13 page letter to President Butler proposing to build a new library by connecting Low Library to University Hall. When that proved unfeasible, James Gamble Rogers (the favored architect of donor Edward S. Harkness) was asked to execute a design for the 114th street border of the campus instead. The building was originally named South Hall, before being named in honor of Butler. It is said that there was a move to name the library after Columbia's 10th president, Frederick A. P. Barnard, but Butler put the kibosh on the idea, leaving the building strategically unnamed until his own retirement. This probably worked out well in the end: Columbia's main library being named "Barnard" would have only caused the Columbia-Barnard relationship to be more confusing than it already is.
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