"The Sky is Blue and There is No Occasion for Worry"

Nearly four years after Morgan had invited McKim to design his Library, the building was substantially complete. McKim wrote to his partner Stanford White to express pleasure and relief. Morgan had been a demanding client, and the work had taken a toll on McKim.

Though White had secured an antique ceiling for Morgan’s Library, he was not involved in the building’s design. Five months after he received this letter, White was murdered at Madison Square Garden, one of his own creations.

Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909)
Retained copy of a letter to Stanford White, New York, 1 February 1906
New-York Historical Society, McKim, Mead & White Architectural Collection