The old public library of Cincinnati was built in 1874 on the site reserved for an opera house. It was one of the country’s most beautiful and large public libraries, with a capacity for holding up to 300,000 books in its collection. With five levels of cast-iron shelving, a fabulous foyer, checkerboard marble floors, and an atrium lit by a skylight ceiling, the place was breathtaking. The building was located in Downtown Cincinnati at 629 Vine St. downtown Cincinnati. Five levels of bookshelves jammed the walls. Shafts of sunlight cut through the windows to provide ample illumination. The library was built at a cost of $383,594.53, around $7 million today.
Why was the Cincinnati Library demolished?
There were several reasons behind the demolition of this magnificent library. The books were stacked beyond the reach due to a lack of space. The ventilation system was failing, water leaks, the paint was peeling, and some walls were cracked. The building was also had safety issues that were too costly to fix. Eventually, these conditions would make the place unbearable. The management decided to move the library to another place.
In January 1955 a new contemporary library was opened at 800 Vine Street. The old building was sold to Leyman Corp. And by June of 1955, the old building was demolished. The site is now a parking garage. The three heads that once guarded the main entrance of the library were the only original features of the building that were saved and placed in the new library’s garden.
These historical photographs give us a glimpse of the Public Library of Cincinnati before it was demolished in 1955.
It literally pains me this was demolished
My feelings were the same when I read about the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the subsequent demolition of Chicago’s White City. What a waste of good architecture. If they had preserved it, I’m sure it would have become a heritage site
why would they demolish that?
Modern safety and accessibility standards made it useless by the 1960s
Modern safety and accessibility standards made it useless by the 1960s
If the fall doesn’t kill you, the asbestos will get you in 3-4 decades.
Asbestos probably wasn’t even present. In 1874, it was just on the cusp of large-scale asbestos production, which was mainly occurring in other countries at the time. They just let this beautiful building fall into disrepair and didn’t care enough to maintain or preserve it.
While it looks pretty and visually stunning, I bet it was a logistical nightmare for people trying to find their books or put them away. If you were trapped at the end of the aisle during a fire, you would be screwed.
According to the title, they just got rid of the library. All the books were moved to a new building a short distance away. the building in this picture was very old and wasn’t safe.