One of the nation's oldest lending libraries has been operating out of a temporary space for almost a year. Now, visitors can bask in the historical splendor of its permanent — very permanent — home.
The Mercantile Library has been operating continuously in Cincinnati since 1835, making it one of the oldest in the nation. But since last December, it was doing so from a small temporary space on Fountain Square while its permanent home, the Mercantile Building, was part of an $80 million effort by Model Group to convert it and the rest of the block it occupies into residential space. The library has occupied the building's 11th floor since 1904.
Mercantile Director of Community and Experience Amy Hunter says the rehab, designed and constructed by local groups Drawing Dept. and Trade 31, doubled the library's footprint by greatly expanding the space it uses on the building's 12th floor.
The changes include new shelving, reading nooks, cellphone booths, a studio for an artist in residence, meeting rooms — including a workshop room for the library's Peregrine Haiku Society — and a grand staircase between the library's two floors.
That last part of the project is a key bridge tying the historic Mercantile to its future, Hunter says.
"The staircase had to look appropriate for this space, but it also had to help you transition from this beautiful room with 22-foot ceilings up to the 12th floor, which has normal ceilings," she says. "It has to unify both floors — and it does."
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The staircase was fabricated in Northern Kentucky by Stewart Ironworks and weighs over 20,000 pounds. Black steel supports running vertically echo the original stacks behind the stairs.
Mercantile Librarian Cedric Rose says a deeper mission underlies the physical changes. They're part of an effort by staff and Director John Faherty to open up the institution and make it more welcoming to the public.
"I think the staircase is a great example of that," he says. "Foremost on a lot of peoples' minds when we had the opportunity to take over this other floor was, 'how do you physically and symbolically invite people up here and really make the whole institution a more inviting place?' This is the sort of staircase you want to use. There's a treehouse feel to it. It's fun. People think this is a fusty-dusty old library, but it's a fun place."
The effort to make the library feel more open goes beyond the architectural changes. As he stands in front of new shelving, Rose talks about the American History books that will fill them.
"Some of the decisions have to do with our collections practices," he says, noting the intentional effort to diversify the library's art and 85,000-book collection. That includes commissioning a portrait of the library's first Black member, Peter H. Clark, by artist Gee Horton.
"The collision of really fresh new works and older bound sets — it's exciting to me to have those perspectives side by side. That's part of what a library's all about."
You'll have plenty of time to check out the library's new feel. Its lease with Model Group for its 12th floor space is for 97 years. And thanks to an arrangement made in the 19th century when its original building burned down, the library holds a 10,000 year lease on its 11th floor space.