Library Apartments Housed Furnace Custodians

In 2016, 13 secret apartments remained on the upper floors of New York Public Library branches. Andrew Carnegie's $5.2 million gift had helped build coal-heated libraries that required live-in custodians to keep their furnaces burning, so the workers moved upstairs with their families. Their children read the books after closing, played on the roofs, and sometimes helped dust shelves or shovel coal. As heating systems improved and custodians retired, the library converted many apartments into public facilities, including a teen center inside the former Fort Washington residence.

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