Mercantile Library Building (Cincinnati, Ohio)

 office building, library

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414 Walnut Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Thirteen story, 150,000 sq. ft. office building, designed by Joseph Steinkamp & Brothers and completed in 1908.

The building is the home of the Mercantile Library Association, a non-profit membership library founded in 1835. In 1840 the Association moved to the Cincinnati College building which was located on the site of the present Mercantile Library Building. After the College building was destroyed by fire, the Association helped raise funds to build a new structure. In return it received a 10,000 year lease on the second floor of the new College building. When the College relocated and the existing building was constructed, the Association was granted a 10,000 year lease on the eleventh and twelfth floors where it is located today.