{"id":72907,"date":"2014-06-19T20:11:53","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T00:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=72907"},"modified":"2014-06-19T20:11:53","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T00:11:53","slug":"razed-in-cincinnati","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/19\/razed-in-cincinnati\/","title":{"rendered":"Razed in Cincinnati"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"1024x1011xoldcincinnatilibrary5.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Ks5lBybQzR\"<\/a>

Photo: Cincinnati Public Library, via Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

A few days back, MessyNessyChic\u2014let\u2019s not dwell on the name\u2014posted a series of photographs of Cincinnati\u2019s old public library<\/a>, erected in 1874 and demolished in 1955. Even if you\u2019re disinclined to fetishize the past, it\u2019s hard not to greet these images with awe and a certain degree of wistfulness. This was one hell of a library, with a checkerboard marble floor, soaring shelves, cast-iron alcoves, and several stories of spiral staircases. In the grandeur of its design, it\u2019s something on the order of McKim, Mead, and White\u2019s original Penn Station\u2014a work of architecture so self-evidently valuable to the contemporary eye that its demolition can be met only with bewilderment and righteous despair: What clown authorized the wrecking ball here?<\/p>\n

But aesthetics were not then, and aren\u2019t now, a high municipal priority\u2014as evidenced by the criticism of the time. Harper\u2019s Weekly<\/em> once wrote about the library, \u201cThe first impression made upon the mind on entering this hall is the immense capacity for storing books in its five tiers of alcoves, and then the eye is attracted and gratified by its graceful and carefully studied architecture \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems backward, and dismayingly utilitarian, to note the \u201cimmense capacity\u201d first and the \u201cgraceful\u201d design second\u2014by that logic, the world\u2019s warehouses and hangars rate among our architectural marvels. But maybe they do; we won\u2019t know for sure until we start tearing them down.<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Library\u2019s Flickr collection hosts even more photographs of the building<\/a>\u2014they\u2019re much easier to digest if you pretend it\u2019s still standing. Here are two more:<\/p>\n

\"833x1024xoldcincinnatilibrary4.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Ja-S-_CLCM\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"3359176957_7a091068a7_b\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days back, MessyNessyChic\u2014let\u2019s not dwell on the name\u2014posted a series of photographs of Cincinnati\u2019s old public library, erected in 1874 and demolished in 1955. Even if you\u2019re disinclined to fetishize the past, it\u2019s hard not to greet these images with awe and a certain degree of wistfulness. This was one hell of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2384],"tags":[1657,17,14359,14357,14358,7148],"class_list":["post-72907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look","tag-architecture","tag-books","tag-buildings","tag-cincinnati","tag-demolition","tag-libraries"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRazed in Cincinnati<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A look back at Cincinnati\u2019s old public library, erected in 1874 and demolished in 1955.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/19\/razed-in-cincinnati\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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