Romance Wanderlust: Living at the Library

Romance Wanderlust - a yellowed and burnt edge map with a compass in the corner, with Romance Wanderlust written across itThis month’s Romance Wanderlust is all about potential. The apartments in the New York City Public Library’s branches aren’t romantic NOW. But just think what some spackling and mold-killer could do. These are fixer-uppers for the win. As ever, this column reflects a lot of Googling and no hands on research, so it’s neither a review nor an endorsement.

The New York Public Library has just under a hundred branches, including research libraries, libraries in Staten Island, the Bronx, and Manhattan, and the Main Branch (AKA The One With The Lions in Front). Back in the day, these buildings needed round-the-clock maintenance staff. Many of the branches, including the Main Branch, have apartments built into them. Once, the library custodians and their families lived there. Now, the spaces are vacant, dilapidated, and ghostly, but the adults who grew up in those apartments remember sleepovers in the stacks and being allowed to read any books they wanted, all night long.

the Rose Main Reading Room of the New York Main Branch
The Rose Main Reading Room of the Main Branch of the New York Public Library. Home Sweet Home.

Atlas Obscura has a couple of articles about the apartments. During the time that the apartments were used, the libraries were heated by coal and needed constant supervision. This article, by Sarah Laslow, has some wonderful pictures, including photos of the “death chute” which is actually the chute for the dumbwaiter.

Another Atlas Obscura article, also by Sarah Laslow, describes what growing up in the library was like. She interviewed Ronald Clark:

Back in his former home, Clark said that living the library had been a life-changing experience. Before moving there, he had not been a bookish kid, and no one in his family had graduated from high school. But while residing in the library, he started paying attention to books. Every time he read something new, he was amazed. He found himself walking past stacks of books and picking out titles to take to a library table, or going downstairs at all hours of the night to read.

Private libraries had apartments as well. In 1943, the Thornberry family moved into the New York Society Library, which was a subscription library. The Thornberry’s daughter, Rose, was six. They lived there until 1967. Rose had slumber parties there and eventually had her wedding there as well, according to an article by Cait Etherington for 6sqft.com.

Today these apartments are mostly being renovated for use as programming space. This dashes my dreams of living in the library. I’m happy that these spaces will be put to good use again. But couldn’t they have saved just one for me?

Comments are Closed

  1. kitkat9000 says:

    I had no idea that there had been library attendants living on-premises.

    The library apartment is now tied for 1st place with the lighthouse I always dreamt of living in. Unfortunately for me, modern technology has busted both possibilities.

  2. Ren Benton says:

    @kitkat9000: I thought of lighthouses, too! My soul is wounded that it’s been forced to dwell in plain old boring houses and apartments when there are more whimsical options out there.

    In typical me fashion, instead of worrying about the mold (a little “consumption” creates a more immersive experience, I always say!), I was freaking out about the molding. The bit about the less lavish decor in similar accommodations ruined my fantasy of the newly hired coal-shoveling custodian arriving with his enormously pregnant wife and eleven assorted children on moving day, thinking they’d be living in a garret but finding instead a suite fit for a Rockefeller. There was waltzing in the empty living room beneath a sparkling chandelier… It would have made an amazing Jimmy Stewart movie before facts ruined it!

  3. Silver James says:

    Interesting article! And I just read a series of dragonish books that included scenes in the Rose Reading Room.

    If I ever win the lottery, I shall find and restore an old library in which to live because…being surrounded by books is better than the sea or the mountains.

  4. Gloriamarie says:

    I wanna rent an apartment in the library.

  5. LaraAmber says:

    How are these not auctioned off as fundraisers? I would gladly pay more than the standard hotel rate for a library apartment on vacation.

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