Holy crap! Old Detroit Public Library

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-09-10, 09:38 PM

Found this old photo on eBay of the reading room of the old Detroit Public Library:
http://tinyurl.com/ydtbzuw

That is AMAZING. Could that really be from this building? What was said to be the main library before the one on Woodward?
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/library4.jpg

That room is INSANE.

Retroit · January-09-10, 09:48 PM

The pictures don't seem to match

The interior shot looks like 5 floors [[+ raised atrium).
The exterior shot looks like 3 floors [[+ basement + raised center).

It also looks like the building in the exterior shot could maybe even fit in just the open central area of the building in the interior shot.

I could be wrong.

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-09-10, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by Retroit

The pictures don't seem to match

The interior shot looks like 5 floors [[+ raised atrium).
The exterior shot looks like 3 floors [[+ basement + raised center).

It also looks like the building in the exterior shot could maybe even fit in just the open central area of the building in the interior shot.

I could be wrong.

Yeah, it looked odd to me, too, but two of those floors could've been below ground. Though that would have been quite the feat back in the day.

Retroit · January-09-10, 10:22 PM

I just searched through the photos on UMich library, and they seem to support that they are in fact the same building.

Perhaps they squeezed a 5 floor interior in a 3-4 story building?

**MikeM** · January-09-10, 10:33 PM

Attachment 4747
Detroit Library 1881

MichMatters · January-09-10, 10:33 PM

EDIT: Interesting shot.

**Melocoton** · January-09-10, 11:49 PM

That interior photo just breaks my heart. When did our wise city fathers demolish this building?

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-09-10, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by Melocoton

That interior photo just breaks my heart. When did our wise city fathers demolish this building?

After the new DPL was built in 1921,

**Hermod** · January-10-10, 07:24 AM

Classic design of libraries where the "book stack" portions had more levels than the public rom sections. When I was in college, half of the library was functional rooms and had 3 stories with 15 foot ceilings while the bookstack portion crammed in six stories with 8 foot ceilings. The floors and ceilings in the bookstacks were less substantial and less elaborate.

**DetroitHabitater** · January-10-10, 10:44 AM

might not be Detroit. If you look at the ebay posting there is a picture of the back of the photograph. It just says "Det" with a circle around it, then 'Library Building_Old'. The circled 'det' might just indicated that it is from the 'Detroit Publishing Co' that produces a lot of Shorpy images that aren't necessarily in Detroit.

**gnome** · January-10-10, 11:48 AM

Of course that is the old library that sat on Library Street downtown. They tore it down and built the Skillman Branch Library in 1932.

**WaCoTS** · January-10-10, 12:05 PM

these are from the Burton Collection...

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/imag...d=EB02F155.TIF

^^in this one you can zoom in and see the folds of the table cloth in the cafeteria in the window of the Hudson's blg across the street

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/imag...id=DPA3382.TIF

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/imag...id=DPA3379.TIF

**MikeM** · January-10-10, 12:44 PM

Attachment 4767

Whose busts?

**WaCoTS** · January-10-10, 01:06 PM

looks like Shakespeare and maybe Athena...?

**Gsgeorge** · January-10-10, 01:07 PM

BuildingsofDetroit, you will have to add this building to your pages. I too was shocked by the photographs of the interior of the library when I saw some shots online a while back, and wondered myself if this building really existed in Detroit or if it was a misprint.

**WaCoTS** · January-10-10, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by Retroit

I just searched through the photos on UMich library, and they seem to support that they are in fact the same building.

Perhaps they squeezed a 5 floor interior in a 3-4 story building?

notice the windows on the exterior are all false.

the number of book stacks did not correspond to the number of stories in the blg

**WaCoTS** · January-10-10, 01:11 PM

there is also an engraving out there somewhere depicting this room

**Gsgeorge** · January-10-10, 01:12 PM

The Skillman Branch is cool and all, but this should have never been destroyed. I am having a hard time figuring out how this building fit on that triangular block. The inside seems larger because of the doubling of the floors [[you can even see in the exterior shots how the floors bisect the tall two-story windows). It is seemingly on a large parcel of land, or would have needed one to fit the building and the large reading room, plus other side rooms and stacks.

This was really a strange piece of architecture. I can see why in the 1920s it would have seemed outdated or overly-opulent and old-looking. But what a loss... a building of this design today is hard to find, especially ones with beautiful skylights and atriums such as this.

**MikeM** · January-10-10, 01:43 PM

I am having a hard time figuring out how this building fit on that triangular block.

"

Attachment 4768

It was a tight fit.

**RickBeall** · January-10-10, 03:01 PM

Wow, amazing pictures. I would not have believed them possible in Detroit.

**Todd_Scott** · January-10-10, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by WaCoTS

these are from the Burton Collection...

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/imag...id=DPA3382.TIF

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/imag...id=DPA3379.TIF

Love those spitoons!

**English** · January-10-10, 03:26 PM

I am absolutely amazed. What a city!

I wonder if my grandfather saw this building before it was torn down.

**detourdetroit** · January-10-10, 05:20 PM

thanks for sharing. those photos look like they could be consistent. it's important to remember that old timey classical architects and designers often manipulated exteriors and interiors to fit the program. if you look closely at the exterior pic with folks on the stairs, you can tell that the window apertures are way oversize compared to residential and small commercial building construction. based on this observation it would make sense that the interior space could fit inside the bulk and mass depicted in the second shot.