 Financed with $1 million of Low's own money due to a lack of funds from alumni (a recurring problem throughout the university's history), he named it in memory of his father, Abiel Abbot Low.It has housed the central administrative offices of the university following the completion of the Butler Library in 1934, and is the focal point and most prominent building on the university's Morningside Heights campus.The steps leading to the library's columned facade are a popular meeting place for Columbia students as well as home to Daniel Chester French's sculpture, "Alma Mater", a university symbol.