A renovation and expansion for a 189-year-old Cincinnati treasure

Since 1835, Cincinnati’s Mercantile Library has provided unique educational and personal-enrichment opportunities through an eclectic array of books and periodicals that helped keep its members informed about a changing world. And since 1904, it’s occupied an 11^th-floor space on Walnut Street between Fourth and Fifth, near the nexus of the city’s powerbrokers, offering breathtaking Queen City views that inspire while the Mercantile’s contents inform.

Even the most venerated of institutions must occasionally renovate their spaces to serve their constituents more effectively. These improvements become inflection points that reflect an organization’s ability to evolve to meet its constituents’ shifting needs. The Mercantile Library seized the moment with its $5 million renovation, which seamlessly enfolds its beautiful amenities with an expansion to the Mercantile Building’s 12^th floor. The expansion nearly doubles the library’s footprint and includes comfortably appointed rooms for group gatherings as well as cozy individual booths that enable users to hold impromptu Zoom calls or nestle quietly with reading material.

Undertaken for the property owner, The Model Group, the team hired Trade 31, the Mercantile’s contractor, and Drawing Department for architecture and design. The library’s renovation was part of an $80 million Mercantile Building makeover that included retrofitting part of the building to create apartments. Construction plans were announced in 2021 and began in January 2024, so the library operated in temporary spaces for approximately a year. Amy Hunter, the Mercantile’s director of community and experience for nine years, is excited to return to its permanent digs.

Amy Hunter is the director of community and experience at Mercantile Library.“We had simply run out of space to maintain our volumes and accommodate our members with the space and services they want,” she said. “Offering 30 new work and study spaces for members has been well received, and the ability to host simultaneous events provides more opportunities to engage the community.”

Hunter said that the Mercantile operated the city’s first telegraph and oldest continually maintained phone number, as well as displayed trendsetting artwork and sculptures throughout its history, with the organization, founded by 45 young professionals and merchants, continually affirming a forward-thinking philosophy.

The Mercantile will continue to offer its popular thrice-weekly (Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday) yoga classes, and will increase its available volumes to approximately 85,000 titles thanks to additional storage. Hunter touted the Mercantile’s state-of-the-art AV system, which can enable closed-circuit simulcasting events throughout the facility, as well as robust Wi-Fi.

“We have a very open floor plan, with not many walls to obstruct a good connection,” she said.

Mercantile Library executive director, John Faherty, stands at the foot of the new staircase built and installed at the Mercantile Library downtown.A centerpiece of the Mercantile’s rebirth is its grand staircase linking the 11^th and 12^th floors. It was designed and built by Erlanger-based Stewart Iron Works, a national leader in ornamental and structural metal construction since 1862. Sleek and black, tastefully but not excessively embellished, it aptly reflects the renovation’s back-to-the-future dichotomy that embraces both the Mercantile’s rich past and dynamic future.

Ambling through the Mercantile’s new upstairs space reveals a treasure trove of subtle, yet beautiful touches that reflect nods to its illustrious history. Previously hidden beneath homely industrial carpeting, its beautifully refinished, adobe-colored tiles provide a promenade as inspiring and comforting as Dorothy’s yellow brick road. Within its stacks, upholstered nooks provide patrons spontaneous opportunities to browse. An abundance of built-in storage comfortably provides capacity, with such nuanced touches as ornate vases, one of which was once fashioned by Rookwood Pottery founder Maria Longworth Storer. Even the 12^th-story restrooms are handsomely finished with striking geometrically patterned tiles.

Hunter said the group has grown to approximately 2,200 members after dipping to around 1,800 during the COVID-19 aftermath. However, its patron profile has shifted from largely suburban residents who visit at lunchtime or just before a rush-hour commute home to a higher concentration of downtown and city-limit inhabitants whose engagement extends to evening and weekend events. The Mercantile’s curious and studious, but somewhat playful, persona remains.

“We’re a ‘no-shooshing’ library, except during reading events designated as silent,” Hunter said. “We’re here to encourage conversation and connection.”