The old Detroit Library Reading Room
Photo from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library
The first time I saw the photograph above, I knew two things immediately:
I wanted to include it in Frankie’s story, and
It no longer existed.
There’s simply no way something so spectacular wouldn’t appear on every “must-see in Detroit” list today. I knew Frankie would feel the same sense of wonder I felt when I first saw that reading room.
Detroit’s current main library is itself an architectural marvel—one I fully intend for Frankie to visit in future books—but it didn’t open until 1921. The library that stood in 1914, when Frankie first walked into a public library, was the library on Gratiot.
Photo from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library
With a rapidly growing population, the city decided in 1870 that the few rooms it occupied in the state Capitol building were no longer adequate. Despite criticism over costs, construction began on a new stone building designed by architect Henry T. Brush in the then-popular Second Empire style. Though scaled back from its original plans, one extravagance remained: the central reading room.
When it opened in 1877, this reading room was unlike anything Detroit had ever seen. Iron columns and spiral staircases rose from floor to ceiling, supporting a verrière skylight that flooded the space with natural light. Ornate iron railings and elevated walkways ringed the room, allowing librarians to retrieve books stored high above. From the main floor, every book was visible, heightening the sense of awe.
Photo from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library
Sadly, in 1931—at the height of the Art Deco era—the original library was demolished to make way for what was then called the downtown library (as opposed to the main library on Woodward), known today as the Skillman Branch. The Skillman Library closed in 2020 during the pandemic for renovations and is expected to reopen soon.
If you’d like to get a sense of what that grand reading room once looked like, the George Peabody Library in Baltimore offers a remarkably similar aesthetic and is open to the public.
George Peabody Library - Baltimore, MD
Austin, D. (n.d.). Detroit Public Library (old). HistoricDetroit.org. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/detroit-public-library-old
Austin, D. (n.d.). Detroit Public Library (old) - Old photos. Historic Detroit. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://historicdetroit.org/galleries/detroit-public-library-old-old-photos/
