St. Louis Public Library / Central Library

Century cake

The Central Library building at 13th and Olive was built in 1912 on a location formerly occupied by the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall and was designed by Cass Gilbert.

The St. Louis Public Library has sixteen locations, including the main Central Library location. Central Library under went a restoration and reopened in 2012. The administration offices, including mine are across the street. Moving these offices allowed more public space with the new renovation.

On the front side of the building is three floors. The rear of the building, the part I miss the most, was seven floors. Here is where the stack tower was. Eight floors and a city block long, it housed library collections and was not opened to the public. The back wall was top to bottom rectangular windows and the floors were glass, to get the most of day light coming through. Some of the glass flooring was preserved and repurposed as a wall in the new atrium.

Cake artist - Andy Cross