The Old Cincinnati Library Before Being Demolished, 1874-1955.

Bring back dangerously tall and elaborate libraries that wouldn't look out of place in a Resident Evil game

If a background in mountaineering isn't a qualification to work at your library, then I want nothing to do with it.
- They issue you a harness and arborists' knots pocket guide on the first day.
- Falls in Dewey Decimaaaaaaaaalllllllll
100000 percent this!

This place looks like a wizard boss fight location for a big d&d campaign. Sad it's gone.

Well, the new one is really nice.
- That doesn't mean you get rid of the old one. Not when you can have wizard fights in it.
It reminds me of Elden ring
this place looks like caleb widogasts personal heaven

we used to be a society

Damn it I want to see elaborate shit like this in person safety hazard be damned. I'll sign a waiver, gimme my overbuilt adult playground.

Should look at some of the pictures of the Los Angeles Public Library.

I've been! My wife is a librarian and she used to work for the L.A. library system. Very beautiful. The main branch of the NYPL is wonderful too. As a bonus, in the children's department, they have all of Christopher Robin Milne's original childhood toys that inspired his father to write the Winnie the Pooh stories:
- Is that an otter behind Kanga?

Why was such a place demolished?

Most likely because old buildings are expensive to maintain, expensive to heat, must be refitted for modern lights or communication or have asbestos or lead pipes or don't comply with modern building standards, such as accessibility.
There is this old cinema from the 1920s in my town that went out of business in the 1990s. Nobody goes to the cinema anymore to fill the 300 seats, it's a 20min walk away from residential areas and there is no parking nearby. On top of that it needs 30 years of maintenance. Nobody has a good business plan for this building.
- Is twenty minutes too long to walk?
https://www.1000libraries.com/blog-posts/why-was-the-old-cincinnati-library-demolished
Not originally constructed as a library. Too hot in summer. No windows. Books would get covered in soot in winter. Flooded. Wasn't safe for the public to even be in.
Lovely as it looks here, in historical terms 75 years old is last week. My town is demolishing a 117 year old cinema to make way for flats, and nobody gives it a second thought.

The height of those railings makes me nervous

This is what I imagine fantasy libraries look like.

Make him stay, Murph. Make him stay, Murph. Don't let me leave, Murph! Don't, don't let me leave Murph! NO, NO, NO, NO!

Looks super safe.

They tear it down to make room for a fast food chili joint?

Don't call that slop they eat on spaghetti in Cincinnati "chili." It doesn't deserve that name.
They put cinnamon in it. Cinnamon.
- A little bit of cinamon and chocolate in normal, non-Ohio related, chili is really good.
- The tiniest pinch of cinnamon mixed in with your other spices is also great on burgers.
wienerschnitzel drive thru

Is that AI?