SH Archive 1874: Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

[KD Archive]

If you visit a corresponding Wikipedia page for Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, you will never know what it used to look like. In this case we are not talking about the outside of the building, but rather about its interior. The outside is just a normal looking older building. The most interesting part about the actual building itself would be it's original purpose. Apparently it was supposed to be an Opera House, but ended up being a library.

Built in 1874 on the site reserved for an opera house, the Old Cincinnati Library was a thing of wonder. With five levels of cast iron shelving, a fabulous foyer, checker board marble floors and an atrium lit by a skylight ceiling, the place was breathtaking. Unfortunately that magnificent maze of books is now lost forever.

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For those interested, here is a couple of links with multiple additional photographs:

• Seriously Though, How Did the Most Beautiful Library in America Get Demolished?
• The Old Cincinnati Library before being demolished, 1874-1955

And a transformation link. How did we go from beautiful to average?

• About the Building

Note: This OP was recovered from the KeeperOfTheKnowledge archive.

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[trismegistus]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: trismegistus
Date: 2019-01-27 04:58:08
Reaction Score: 3

What an incredible sight that must have been.

And such little information on when it was built, other than it was a library in 1874.

 

[rafalnowicki]

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Username: rafalnowicki
Date: 2019-01-27 13:34:55
Reaction Score: 1

I wonder if they had any books from the time before reset or all were newly prepared for new history propaganda. I heard about 50% of museums artifacts can be written the unknown language and no one can read it. Etruscian language is an example.

 

[Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: esgee1
Date: 2019-01-28 05:09:02
Reaction Score: 1

While that must have been impressive to have seen in person, and all those books that have probably been lost.... I can only imagine the lawsuit nightmare of today with people falling off those railings!

 

[polymath]

It looks like a cathedralesque building to me. Of course it had been altered with Shakespeare heads out front at some point but the structure itself is very similar interior wise to a cathedral.What that means if it was retrofitted as a library I don't know. Or were cathedrals perhaps knowledge centers at one point? Imagine every huge cathedral filled with books on how to do things, heal things and people, etc.?