Downtown’s renowned Mercantile Library reopened at Thanksgiving after a multi-year construction project added a fully functional second floor, giving the membership library full occupancy of the 11th and 12th floors of the Mercantile Building. Model Group invested $84 million to convert the former office building to apartments that started renting in the fall.
The library had been using a conference room on the 12th floor for years, but this expansion allowed the organization to spread its book and art collection across the two floors, creating more open floorplans and additional private meeting and reading spaces.
Thanks to its famous 10,000-year lease for $1 per year, the Mercantile Library can afford to maintain all of its traditions, from lunchtime book clubs to author talks to personal attention from Executive Director John Faherty (below in dark sweater) and his staff.
The Mercantile Library was founded in 1835 before the creation of public libraries in the U.S., offering access to books to Cincinnatians of all backgrounds. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, and Horace Greeley were among the noted writers who spoke at the library, which in recent years has hosted talks by Margaret Atwood, Colson Whitehead, and Aaron Sorkin.
Membership dues start at $65 a year for individuals and fund the nonprofit library’s operations, along with sponsorships and donations. Members get free borrowing privileges and free admission to signature events; public tickets are also available for certain events.
Photographs by Catherine Viox