Seriously though, how did the Most Beautiful Library in America get Demolished?

[ashling]

http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/06/17/seriously-though-how-did-the-most-beautiful-library-in-america-get-demolished/

The old Public library of Cincinnati was the sort of place you only see in a Harry Potter film; colossal cast-iron book alcoves and spiral staircases that went several stories high, checker board marble floors that shone beneath the skylight roof; a magnificent maze of books that is now lost forever.

In 1955, without a whimper, the building was demolished when the library opened a more sizeable and contemporary building just a few blocks down on Vine Street. Today, a parking lot and an office building stand in its place…

[uppityperson]

1. I would've loved to live there. Urban renewal destroyed a lot of beautiful libraries

[Blue_Tires]

53. Along with post offices, subway stations, old-style banks, etc...

[rug]

2. This is what replaced it.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/15-gorgeous-photos-of-the-old-cincinnati-library#.be2yrmyBm

[Android3.14]

11. Actually, no

That's what is there now. The Cincinnati Library is doing just fine in a different and beautiful location.

[rug]

12. It's the building that replced the library building.

[HipChick]

3. What happened to the books?

[Lars39]

23. Knowledge lost...I'm bettin' not all made the move.

[Throd]

4. Americans have little reverence for architectural history.

I used to see photos of beautiful historic buildings in the Orange County Register and Long Beach Press-Telegram. The feature always ended the same way: "And in 1965 it was bulldozed for a parking lot."

[eggplant]

13. Then there's the Detroit Train Station

I wish someone would acquire it and restore it to its former glory.

[SheilaT]

14. Washington DC's Union Station looked a lot like that

until it dawned on people that it could and should be fixed up. Of course, it helps that, thanks to the presence of the Federal Government, downtown DC never became abandoned the way downtown Detroit did.

[demmiblue]

20. That is the East Grand Boulevard Methodist Church...

just an FYI!

[progressoid]

31. Not always.

Unless they are structurally unsound, many old buildings around here are being repurposed.

We built a new library about 5 times larger than the old one. Turned the old one (a Carnegie Library) into a museum.

[WinkyDink]

5. The worship of Mammon strikes again.

[SoapBox]

6. Whoa...

Spectacular.

[mackerel]

7. What a gorgeous library! Too bad but at least there are pics.

[Mr.Bill]

8. That's a shame.

The Americans With Disabilities act would have probably made it obsolete eventually, though.

[intheflow]

9. Gorgeous library, but as a library worker, I want to note

it looks like a deathtrap for employees. Shelving was probably a nightmare, with those stacks so high. They may not have had elevators in the building which means carrying books to reshelve up and down those spiral staircases, and depending on when and how it was constructed, it might not have been able to be retrofit with an elevator, much less the electrical infrastructure needed to support elevators. Also, spiral staircases are pretty dangerous if used heavily, so patron and employee liability was probably high, and shoes on those metal steps probably echoed throughout the whole building, hardly conducive to reading and studying. A beautiful building, yes, but I can imagine some very real scenarios in which it's much better this library has been replaced by a more modern facility.

[mopinko]

17. ^^^^

libraries are too important to be tied to sentimentality.
my home town is replacing a beautiful old carnegie library. spent many happy hours there. and it was beloved.
but it had been retrofitted as many times as it could, and it just wasnt serving the purpose any more.

the "library" is more than a building. and more important than the building.

[marzipanni]

32. I hope that the beautiful old Carnegie library can stay where it is

and be used for another purpose, instead of tearing it down to build a new one on the lot.
We have two library additions on our town's old Carnegie, and when the kids leaned their bikes against one of the newer wing's pillars near the street level front door, chunks came out because the pillars were styrofoam!

I think old buildings are sturdy and of much better and long lasting quality than most modern buildings.

[ailsagirl]

35. I hope all those books made it to other libraries' shelves

and that none of them were tossed. Books are practically sacrosanct to me.

[GoCubsGo]

27. Yep.

Imagine little kids running around, going up into the higher reaches of that place, with only a short, open rail to keep them from plunging 20 or 30 feet. And, I pity the poor librarians who had to re-shelf the books. You can't bring a cart up a spiral stair case.

[Android3.14]

10. Really? 60 years later we are lamenting this?

Certainly it was a nice library for say, 1874 (when it was built). I wouldn't call it the "most beautiful library in America" (that would be Mrs. 'Droid's library). In 1955 that quaint bit of building was nearing the end of it's usability, especially with a growing population in the city.

The current structure is also beautiful, thank you very much.





This sentimentality 60 years after the city replaced their aging library seems contrived at best.

[SheilaT]

15. I was likewise wondering about the actual

usability of that old library. Spiral staircases are almost always a bad idea, in my opinion, and it doesn't look as if lot of those books could have been accessed very easily.

[femmocrat]

16. The weight of all those books probably buckled the floors!

I think it looks scary.

[ashling]

37. I wasn't "lamenting" anything

I am fully aware and appreciate the maintenance and safety issues might necessitate moving on.

I think the history is fascinating and that the building is beautiful

[bamademo]

50. That is hideous. That old building was exquisite.

[Android3.14]

51. If by "exquisite" you mean

dim, dangerous, inaccessible and inadequate. It has a certain Dickensian aura that some might find appealing. Exquisite seems to be a bit strong.

[Archae]

18. A library? What's that?

Where homeless hang out?

Seriously, the Internet is making libraries obsolete, unfortunately.

[intheflow]

19. Well, Archae, that's your uninformed opinion.

The Internet is only as good as your ability to differentiate reliable sources from unreliable sources, and opinion from fact. Since no one seems to be teaching critical thinking in public schools any more, the library is one of the last places where people of all ages can still learn those skills. Meanwhile, your comment also assumes everyone can afford to access the internet, which simply isn't true except where anyone can use a computer for free - at the library. People who work from home are using public libraries as a workspace away from their kitchen table, people who travel for business know they can get free wifi and a plug at almost any public library in any town they have to travel to. People who homeschool get a lot of their materials through public libraries; hell, even public school teachers get books for their classes in this era where school libraries have been eliminated from school funding. Libraries provide public meeting spaces for anyone who needs it, including the people of Ferguson, and Hurricane Sandy survivors.

But you know, you're an expert, since you probably haven't set foot in a library for decades. So never mind.

[demmiblue]

21. I'll add more:

- Story time for toddlers/preschool
- PAWS for reading programs
- Summer reading challenges for adults and children
- Book clubs
- Classic, foreign and family film viewings
- Guest speakers (such as local historians and poets)
- Free downloadable books, magazines and music if you can't make it to the physical building
- Book delivery to the home bound (audio and large print books for those with visible limitations)
- Cafe

Those are just off the top of my head.

Libraries are wonderful places that provide many services for the community. They are not going anywhere, imo.

[Archae]

22. I was being facetious.

I know the good things libraries have and do.

Our local library (Mead Public) is a place I love to go, and still indulge my love of books.

Mead Library also has plenty of other materials available, videos, (I especially like the informative ones, like "Nova" and the National Geographic shows,) software, music, etc.

[intheflow]

24. Ooo, sorry.

I work in a library and am in school to be a librarian. I can only read so much of that sentiment - fervently meant! - before I need the smilie to spell out any actual sarcasm.

Glad you're on the side of good, Archae!

[Archae]

25. It seems nowadays we only hear about a library when...

Someone tries to ban the homeless from them, or close them down.

Tragic really.

I'm a regular at the Mead Library, (not so much in winter, since getting there involves a bus ride, and at times standing waiting for a bus is miserable,) the Mead Library even has ART that can be checked out!

[intheflow]

28. Actually, the last election cycle was pretty good to libraries.

I listed all the ones I knew about in a post last November. Expanded funding across the country!

[ailsagirl]

26. Because newer = better to some people

What a shame.

[Major Nikon]

34. You'll have to pry my chamber pot out of my cold dead hands

[valerief]

29. Conservatives never conserve. Those are some beautiful pictures, btw. nt

[HeiressofBickworth]

30. Seattle had an old yet interesting library

which was replaced in the 1960's with a boxy nondescript building. That has been replaced by an ugly monstrosity, someone's idea of "modern art". It's truly awful, inside and out. I worked across the street from it for many years -- never did learn to appreciate any of it. I avoided using it, even when it was right across the street.

[MadDAsHell]

33. I'm too young to remember, but looking at these pictures, it seems there was a time...

When everything was as much art as it was utilitarian.

You can especially see this in cars. Today, with the exception of extremely high-end cars, everything seems to be about utility, gas mileage, etc. You look at the earlier cars and even those on the low end were works of art.

[BubbaFett]

36. Buildings like that are alive

They are actual living things.

They are horrendously expensive to maintain/renovate/bring up to code.

[orleans]

38. wow! what amazing pictures! my old library never looked like that!

it must've been an awesome place to go to.

[freshwest]

39. There was a beautiful one in downtown Houston that was incredibly beautiful. One could sit on the

wooden stairs to the upper floor to read, when one didn't want to sit at other places and the selection of books was wonderful. The ambience was somewhat like the one in the OP photograph, but smaller and with a lot of beautiful materials.

In the eighties, IIRC, an ultra-modern library was built across the plaza and they sold most of the books and the selections were not very good, nor was the seating. It felt unwelcoming. The old library was off limits as it was taken for 'administration.'

I felt saddened and that it was a theft of both knowledge and community.

[ashling]

40. I've used both the old Sam Houston library

and the new one. At least they made use of the historic one instead of tearing it down.

[freshwest]

41. Yes, you know the place! I'm glad it's still there.

[ashling]

43. Plus you get piece o' modern art to boot

a red steel mouse if memory serves ... I haven't been there for a while

but next time I am in Houston I will definitely go by and show my wife.

I did research for a college paper in that library.

[freshwest]

45. Yes, red steel mouse is a good description. I didn't find it people friendly, but that's just me.

I also did a lot of research in that old library in college. It was a great era, unlike now. But we'll find a way.

[DFW]

42. I always thought THIS was the most beautiful library in America

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But that's just my taste.

[freshwest]

44. Not bad! Is that this one in NYC or one in D.C.?

Knowing you, I bet it's a very famous library in Washington, D.C.

[DFW]

47. You know me all too well

It's the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington

[freshwest]

48. That I do, I think. And it is indeed a beauty.

[appalachiablue]

52. LC is a magnificent building and library. I loved researching there when a grad student at GWU.

[Rhythm]

54. Is that Patience, or Fortitude?

Those glorious lions were the first thing i sought out on my first trip to NYC :-D

[alphafemale]

46. Maybe because it ridiculously impractical and dangerous.

Is it that it is only ALL white men also appealing?

[Bombero1956]

49. This is the Union Station in Springfield Mass.

It has been abandoned for close to 40 years. Recently after many failed attempts to rehab the station construction will begin to return it to its former glory. It will have restaurants, shops and will be the main bus depot.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

55. early large buildings were difficult to impossible to modernize

The modern amenities of the late 1800's were an after thought at the time, plumbing, electrical and HVAC wasn't terribly well understood and rarely if ever well documented. Bringing everything up to a post-war building code was basically impossible.

I worked on a failed project to turn an abandoned train station into a department store, there were external complications (such as the city saying no surface parking and the railroad demanding a fortune to build a proper loading dock and access road to it.) but the project was doomed by the building's deficiencies and that nothing was any sort of standard.

The best we could come up with was preserving the street facing facade and demolishing the whole works, but the railroad didn't want demolition and construction work done so close to the active tracks and the city wanted the interior preserved too as well as the facade.

Between those issues and the cost of building underground parking with a public plaza overtop that the city was demanding it just didn't work. The building is still empty and ever more rundown.