St. Louis Public Library - Barr Library — Attraction in St. Louis

The Barr Library is of significant historical importance to St. Louis. The land was donated by William Barr of the Famous-Barr department stores in 1901 and the funds for the building were donated by Andrew Carnegie after he set up a philanthropic program that ended up building 1,600+ libraries in America alone. The building was designed by Theodore C. Link who also designed Union Station - St. Louis. Opening in 1906, the Barr branch was the 1st of 7 libraries built in St. Louis with Carnegie's funds. The building underwent a $1.6 million upgrade in 1995-96 but a lot of historical touches still remain. During the renovation, renowned artist Bob Cassilly was commissioned to create some sculptures. His lion sculpture is at the front door and a collection of sculptures depicting Aesop's Tortoise and the Hare are in the rear courtyard. Besides all the history, the people that work here are wonderful. Libraries today offer way more than just books so make sure to ask one of the friendly librarians about all the other cool things they offer like access to telescopes and streaming...

Neat, different library. One of the smallest Carnegie libraries I've seen, unless I missed something.

I went to use the restroom and the door was propped open on a doorstop. I closed the door and there was no lock on the inside, so I used the doorstop to keep it shut. Then I couldn't get the darn doorstop back in, so the door closed while I went to the front desk to let them know. And the door locked from the outside! What a mess. Please fix your bathroom door. This was embarrassing and overly complicated.

Other than that, a great experience. Just felt so silly about locking the door by accident. Didn't stay long, just cooling off and looking at cookbooks and wandering...

Barr branch library is a beautiful historic building with a secret inside. One of two creative experience labs in the city this old library is packed with high tech gadgets to help you navigate 3D printing, graphic design, glow forge lazer stenciling and so much more. So grab a book if you want but now the library is more than just books it's about growing knowledge and skills for the future - shout out to Ja'Mel for showing me and my boys the ins and outs of these great new assets to...