Anyone knows when the old Cincinnati public library was taken down? What building is now standing at its location? I had no idea it existed until I came across a really neat picture of the 4-story room with huge stacks at the Visual History Gallery in Hyde Park (website is http://visualhistorygallery.com/index.html, but you have to visit the gallery to see the picture of the library).

 

I looked for old pictures on the Greater Cincinnati Memory Project website (http://www.cincinnatimemory.org/), and here is what I found:

 

 

 

 

it was torn down in 1955 and it sat on Vine St. between 6th and 7th

It basically sat just north of the Enquirer - 629 Vine Street. It was built in 1874 as a theatre and designed by James McLaughlin.  Most that I've read was that it was not a theatre very long.  They stopped using it when the new library was built at Garfield Place & Vine in 1955.  Not sure if it was immediately demolished or hung around until Federated was built in 1978.

 

The Old Old Enquirer Building was where the Old Enquirer now is.  This shows the original and the Library next to it.

Great! Thanks to both of you.

Those are some fantastic interior shots.

Wow!

Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I think the old library wasn't that impressive.  At least in comparison to the other libraries of the time.  The architecture of that space seems lackluster.  The current library is a far better design, in my opinion. 

The old one looked dangerous as hell