Inside the New York Public Library’s Last, Secret Apartments

December 4, 2020 5:20 PM

"There used to be parties in the apartments on the top floors of New York City’s branch libraries. " When the Carnegie Libraries were built, the buildings required caretakers, until modernization meant that live-in furnace-minders were no longer needed. Surprisingly for New York City, the apartments were left empty, or used for storage, though with space at a premium, they're starting to be used again.
posted by kalimac (15 comments total)

At one time, people lived at Carnegie Hall.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:45 PM on December 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

Dream home.
posted by theora55 at 6:17 PM on December 4, 2020 [10 favorites]

I have an image of Burgess Meredith moving in to one of these things, clasping his hands together and saying, “All the time in the world...”
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:03 PM on December 4, 2020 [16 favorites]

There are Carnegie Libraries all over the United States, not just in New York City. Over a thousand total. Presumably they also had apartments? I have no idea.
posted by desuetude at 7:57 PM on December 4, 2020

Canada has (or had) them, too, although I don't know if they've got apartments or not. The one I'm familiar with stopped being a library a long time ago, and has housed a number of different business and government organizations.
posted by sardonyx at 8:14 PM on December 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

Being the grandson of a librarian, I would move into a library apartment in a heartbeat.
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:48 PM on December 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

Fun fact: The "live-in furnace-minders" were also called "censors."
[not true]
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 3:24 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

The recent novel The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis features a main character who lives in a NY library apartment in the early 1900s.
posted by bookmammal at 5:02 AM on December 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

The Carnegie library in DC has been turned into an Apple Store, but the top floor has been given to a city museum (and Apple renovated the whole building). It's pretty big, so there would have been plenty of room for apartments. I would love to live over a library.
posted by me & my monkey at 7:10 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

There are Carnegie Libraries all over the United States, not just in New York City. Over a thousand total. Presumably they also had apartments? I have no idea.

Right now there is one for sale in Elwood, Indiana for $120K.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:20 AM on December 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

There are Carnegie Libraries all over the United States, not just in New York City. Over a thousand total. Presumably they also had apartments? I have no idea.

This one in New Orleans (named after my grandmother!) definitely does not. It is very wee. Apartments for very small people?
posted by brundlefly at 9:47 AM on December 5, 2020

>one for sale in Elwood
These buildings were built to last. Unusual for that time in the US.

Carnegie's first lib was built in Scotland in 1883, the last in 1929. There were over 2500; the US got 1689.

Great piece from 2018: NYC libraries: Life behind the stacks

Another rich man's lie-bury (Astor, NYC) - Built 1848, went public 1854, abandoned 1911, still exists.
posted by Twang at 5:19 PM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

"PVBLIC"
posted by kimchi at 2:48 PM on December 6, 2020

There are Carnegie libraries in London, as well. I used to love the one in Hammersmith, but never made it to the Hanwell branch before lockdown.

I know many upstairs offices in libraries became co-working spaces a few years ago, and Mrs. hobo had her bill for her spot at the Chiwick one paused during lockdown.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:41 PM on December 6, 2020

There were apartments in Pittsburgh Homewood, Lawrenceville and South Side Carnegie libraries back in the day. In Homewood and South Side according to the linked site, that space is used for meetings; in Lawrenceville, it houses the HVAC system.

This 2002 Post-Gazette story includes a photo of the old Lawrenceville library apartment, after its use as living quarters and before its renovation.

(These are the only Carnegie library apartments I was able to track down outside NYC.)
posted by virago at 1:26 AM on December 7, 2020