Wasted Space, But Not for Long

Can you guess where this week's Photo of the Week was taken? "Referred to as 'the hole' by library personnel," this cavernous space was the sub-basement of our very own Central Library. In this photo we see a miniature Chief Librarian, Francis R. S. John, speaking with a Brooklyn Eagle reporter about plans for the space to be converted into stacks for 500,000 more books.

This sub-basement was the foundation for the building that was initially designed by architect Raymond F. Almirall. The cornerstone was laid in 1912, but construction eventually stopped in 1927 due to lack of funding. Central Library was redesigned in the 1930s and the building as we know it opened for service in 1941. In 1952, $1,000,000 was put towards the completion of the building, which included "the construction of public reading rooms on the second floor, ...and a maintenance shop and stock rooms underneath the garage." Previously, the second floor had been an "open shell," but the extra room was needed as patrons flocked to the Library ("Award $1,000,000 to Complete Plaza Library Building," December 31, 1952; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History). 

At an opening ceremony celebrating the completion of construction in 1953, Borough President John Cashmore lauded Central as "the finest and best equipped library building of its size in the country" ("Hail Brooklyn Public Library for its Services," October 20, 1953; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History).

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal of Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at [email protected].