For $150,000, You Could Own a Former Carnegie Library (But It Needs Work!)

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Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/writer of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/writer of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her subsequent ebook, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.

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It just isn’t usually that an previous library constructing hits the housing market, and it’s even rarer when one does, that it has the legacy of being a Carnegie Library. But proper now, for a cool $150,000, you could possibly be the proprietor of a former Carnegie Library in Middletown, Ohio. The catch is that the work to repair the constructing might be time, labor, and probably financially intensive.

zillow image listing for middletown carnegie library.

Located at 1320 1st Ave, the 15,400 sq. foot constructing acquired $25,000 in funding from Andrew Carnegie in 1920. The metropolis was answerable for buying the supplies housed throughout the facility, as effectively sustaining it. Middletown’s library accomplished building in 1913, and it operated as the town’s public library for 68 years till 1981, when it constructed a extra fashionable, bigger area within the city. Following the transfer, the ability was purchased and bought a number of occasions. According to a native preservation society, the constructing was bought in 2007 by the Citizens for Historic and Preservation Services, who created a group referred to as the Carnegie Action Committee. The Committee and Middletown locals cleaned up the constructing, paid up the ability’s again taxes, after which bought the constructing to a native businessman. Nothing occurred following that property switch, and it was bought in 2013 by a business holdings group.

The library was then bought by a developer in 2018 for $5,000 who had plans to renovate the constructing and switch it into a area that would come with a brewery, restaurant, and leisure. This was after the town had thought-about demolishing it due to its state of disrepair.

Despite the developer’s enthusiasm and that of the group (as seen by way of the above Instagram feed), the venture by no means got here to fruition. He reported in 2018 that the renovations needs to be full by summer season 2020, but it surely continued to be delayed. In 2021, he believed that the whole lot can be completed two years after the roof was changed–however in August 2023, the property was put in the marketplace.

The metropolis of Middletown has a number of incentives ready for anybody who purchases the property. It is zoned to be a multifamily dwelling, making it a probably interesting venture for somebody with the capability to repair up a long-neglected facility. The constructing is priced at $10 a sq. foot, down from an preliminary itemizing of $175,000 in August.

Find a few of the itemizing pictures beneath to understand each the preserved historic particulars, in addition to the actual work concerned in rehabilitating the previous library. You can simply see the grandeur from its hey days, too:

Exterior of Middletown Carnegie library.

Interior of Middletown Carnegie library.

You can discover the complete itemizing for the property on Zillow.

If the identify Middletown is ringing a bell however you can’t place it, it’s as a result of that is the city featured within the ebook Hillbilly Elegy by Ohio politician JD Vance (it’s the place his household moved to after leaving Kentucky). Many think about him and his work fraudulent representations of sophistication in America, however the influence of the ebook continues.

A hat tip to Cheap Old Houses for that includes the ability final week on their instagram feed. If you, like me, are a lover of all issues previous properties and low cost properties, you may choose up their new ebook, too, Cheap Old Houses: An Unconventional Guide to Loving and Restoring a Forgotten Home.

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