With over 92 locations, the New York Public Library is an institution loved by many. To some lucky families, the library was more than that- it was home.
It’s every book-lover’s dream come true: living inside the library. For some New York families, this was their reality. Starting in the early 1900s, vast apartments built inside the New York City public libraries were occupied by custodial families who kept charge of the building. Sometimes confusing patrons, the apartment usually occupied the top floor of the library behind an area marked “Private.”
One by one, the apartments have been converted into usable public spaces, bowing to the changing demands of time. Only thirteen of these library apartments still remain, many lost in a deep state of decay. But for the families lucky enough to have lived in them, the memories live on.
Working and Living in the Library
A 1949 magazine advertisement lists a library custodian job at $60.83 a month. The wages might seem low, but the perks were beyond unique. Along with 24/7 access to the library stacks, the custodian position also comes with a 5-bedroom apartment in the library.
Custodial apartments were primarily constructed out of necessity to feed the fires of early 20th-century buildings. Most buildings of that era were heated by coal, which had to be shoveled constantly. During the cold months of winter, custodians were needed 24/7 to stoke the basement furnaces, making the job both labor-intensive and demanding.
“The apartments came with the job, so as long as someone was doing the job, the apartment was theirs,” explained a New York Public Library representative, “Taking care of buildings used to be a 24-hour job, especially in the age of coal furnaces.” For the many library families, shoveling coal was a familiar pastime.
“The family mantra was: Don’t let the furnace go out,” remembers Sharon Washington, whose father was a live-in engineer. Living at the library was sometimes difficult, but Washington laughed, recalling stranger’s reactions to learning where she lived. “It was always with a wide-eyed look of, ‘Really? What was that like?”
Throughout her father’s career, the Washingtons lived in three different Manhattan libraries. A life amongst books nurtured the mind of young Ms. Washington, who attended Dalton, Dartmouth, and Yale before becoming an actress. The Washingtons spent most of their time in the St. Agnes branch in the Upper West Side, on the library’s top floor 3-bedroom apartment. She would practice on a baby grand piano in the living room.
“I think part of the reason I’m an actress today is because it fueled my imagination. We would create these elaborate play stories- I think that’s when I realized how special it was,” said Washington. (photo of her playing piano)
She eventually wrote a one-woman play called Feeding the Dragon, referencing her father shoveling coal into the fire. “I used to love watching my father stoke the furnace because it was very hard manual labor,” she recalls, “It was like watching a knight feed a dragon.”
Many Generations of Care
In some cases, one family would continue caring for a building through multiple generations. One young man, John Fedeler, spent his childhood living in the library before eventually becoming the successor to his father’s engineer position.
The Fedeler family moved into the Central Public Library in 1910, occupying a seven-room apartment on the mezzanine floor of the 42nd Street branch. His father, also named John, was an engineer who worked briefly for Thomas Edison. John’s younger sister, Vivani Fedeler, was born in one of the Central Library apartment bedrooms.
During interviews, Fedeler recounts wild stories of growing up in the library. Their apartment faced the library’s central court, and his father would tell ghost stories to keep the children from playing in the reading rooms. Often tales of a red-bearded ghost, a man who died during construction.
Still, young John found ways to make mischief. Once, he and another engineer’s child trapped over 300 pigeons on the roof, and they had plans to sell the birds around town. A lady working across the street called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who notified the library. When not trapping pigeons, the boys loved softball. It was not uncommon for them to use large reference books as bases when playing in the library after hours.
Eventually, this lifestyle came to a bittersweet end. In 1940, the library voted to refurbish the apartment into a public space, prompting the Fedelers to move out. The old kitchen was transformed into a mimeograph room, and the bedrooms were changed to telephone switchboards, smoking rooms, and restrooms. Young John remained superintendent of the building until 1949.
The Carnegie Libraries
The majority of the library apartments were built in the Carnegie Libraries, the first branches of the New York Public Library to be constructed. They originated in 1899 when the Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded $5.2 million dollars (equal to $169 million today) to construct 67 libraries across New York City. Built between 1901 and 1923, the Carnegie libraries form the bulk of the current New York Public Library system.
The Carnegie Libraries are known for their architectural aesthetic: tall ceilings, broad windows, and a semi-open area floor plan for the first two floors. The custodial apartments were, by contrast, much simpler stylistically than the rest of the library. Very rarely did the inner apartments have the same decorative molding as the rest of the building.
The New York Society Library
One library apartment, in particular, is worth talking about, but it’s not part of the public library system. The New York Society Library, located on East 79th Street, had a family that lived as caretakers for decades.
Long before the public library system was funded by Andrew Carnegie, members of a civics group called the New York Society opened a subscription library that anyone could join. Founded in 1754, this became the New York Society Library. For 25 years, the library building was cared for by the Thornberry family, who lived there until 1967.
Of the Thornberry’s, their children would hold sleepovers at the library, and Rose Mary was eventually even married at the library in 1965.
Rose Mary Thornberry recalls the joys of growing up in the library. In the summers, she was able to work as a library page without having to travel far. Another highlight was meeting famous people; Rose Mary was once asked to accompany actress Maude Adams to locate a book. The New York Society Library had a number of famous members, including George Washington, Herman Melville, John Jay, and writers David Halberstam and Wendy Wasserstein.
But, as with the New York Public Libraries, the era of live-in families was coming to an end.
The Decline of Live-In Library Families
Eventually, the library apartments were no longer needed. Coal furnaces became obsolete in the 1980s, and with it, there was a necessity for a live-in engineer. Slowly, the library custodians began retiring.
“We have so many demands on our space, besides just the books, that it’s almost criminal not to turn these apartments into program space,” said Iris Weinshall, the New York Public Library’s chief operating officer.
As the families trickled out of the apartments, none were brought in to replace them. The last live-in custodian inhabiting the Yorkville Webster Branch moved out in 2006, the bookend to an era.
Many of these apartments have vanished, and their rooms have been rehabilitated for public use. But others remain empty, still to be reminisced on when families roamed their halls.
Lindsey Rae is a freelance writer, videographer, and medium format photographer with a background in economics, documentary filmmaking, and human rights. In past lives she covered the arts scene in Seattle and LA before morphing into a finance journalist, reporting from the NYSE for German news media. When not writing about culture & lifestyle she can be found studying herbalism and traditional healing techniques. She enjoys running, yoga, and world travel. You can find her at www.linerae.com or IG @hunteressthompson