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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
When the Central Library, the jewel of the St. Louis Public Library system, underwent a $70 million renovation in 2012, one small but significant room remained unchanged, its appearance and purpose unaltered since its creation back in 1928.
An elaborate carved door topped with a pediment on the east wall of the Fine Arts Library bears a stark inscription: Architecture. It leads into the George Fox Steedman Architectural Library, which today houses 1,500 rare and important architectural books.
Wealthy St. Louis industrialist and inventor George Fox Steedman and his wife, Carrie Robb Howard, donated their personal collection of 600 books on architecture to the library. With the gift they included a $10,000 endowment for purchases of additional titles and another $25,000 to build a special room in the Cass Gilbert–designed library to house them.
Steedman supervised the construction of the elegant room, which was designed by architect W. Oscar Mullgardt of the firm Mauran, Russell & Crowell. It invites comparisons to British private studies of earlier centuries with its dark wood paneling, leaded glass doors and windows, elaborate plasterwork ceiling, and stone fireplace.
Its purpose, however, wasn’t to provide a restful reading room but instead to improve the built environment of St. Louis through better architecture. Carved above the fireplace: “May students search these shelves for records of honest work and good design and find her inspiration of our great achievement.”
“Important works of architecture and history, in original editions, are gathered here,” says Mary Frechette, Steedman librarian and senior fine arts specialist. “More significantly, the Steedman isn’t a dead collection. Part of the gift, the endowment, allows us to collect and add new works.”
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
In his bequest, Steedman asked the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to advise the library on book selection. Esley Hamilton, preservation specialist for the St. Louis County Parks, serves on the selection committee. “One way of judging the importance of the Steedman is that it’s hard to add books to the collection; we have so many seminal works,” he says. “It’s important to note the books aren’t just in English but also in Italian, French, German, and even Latin.”
Although the room is not open to the public, it is a must-see for anyone interested in architecture and the applied arts. The collection is available for research and study by architects, as well as architectural historians and students and scholars, by appointment only.
Beginning in 2019, however, at 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, the public may view the room as part of a new Special Collections Tour that also includes the Rare Books and Manuscripts department. The room may also be seen before each installment of the 2019 SAH Lecture Series, held in conjunction with the Society of Architectural Historians, which begins February 28.
