A Broken Porcelain Throne in the People’s Palace

The Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library was once voted as one of the most beautiful buildings in the United States. With its elaborate ornamentation, stately clock tower, and stained glass windows, it’s not hard to see why. Frank Collerius, its branch manager, has called it “the People’s Palace.”

When the building was a courthouse, defendants were held there before trial or prison, though now it’s the handsome Reference Room, with dark wood and brick arches. The building’s sole public restroom for adults is off to its side. When Our Town Downtown’s reporter visited on Saturday, Feb. 17, its entrance had been roped off and marked with an out of order sign. It’s been this way for over two months.

There’s a children’s restroom on the first floor, though an employee said that adults may not use it. There’s also a staff restroom, which Cade Langsdon, a 22-year-old New York University student, noticed during his visit two weeks ago, while he was studying on the second floor.

“I constantly heard the air hand dryer going off all the time, but it was in [the staff’s] closed area,” he said in a phone call. After his visit, Langsdon noted the lack of toilet access in a Google review: “It’s ... completely unfathomable that this library does not have a restroom that is reliably open to the public,” he wrote.

One person who works at the library, who asked to remain unnamed, said that they use the restroom in the Bagel Pub down the block. Though there is a staff restroom, they said, it can become busy.

When Our Town Downtown’s reporter asked branch manager Frank Collerius about the out-of-commission public restroom, he said the subject was “touchy” before walking away. The library closed it in December, according to NYPL spokesperson Amy Geduldig, in order to investigate “an issue that was caused by improper use of the restroom,” and the replacement of equipment.

Geduldig, in a Feb. 23 email, said that the library now has a restroom available to adult visitors, though she did not specify which one. Additionally, she said, the basement public restroom is expected to open this week.

During a half-hour visit on Feb. 17, Our Town Downtown’s reporter encountered four visitors who had wanted to use the restroom in the library, but were unable to. Two were locals who had stopped by specifically to use the restroom. The other two were Melanie and Jeremie, visitors from Paris who had heard that the library was a must-see destination in New York. Melanie said she found the library to be beautiful, though smaller than expected. And she couldn’t find the toilet. (Our reporter shared directions to the Fifth Avenue flagship with them at the end of the conversation.)

Public libraries make up approximately a fifth of the public toilets throughout the city, according to a 2018 count published by the Urban Design Forum. In November, NYPL announced that, due to city-wide budget cuts, all of its branches would be closed on Sundays, and that they were reducing spending on “building maintenance and repairs.” Geduldig said the reason for the Jefferson Market restroom’s lengthy closure was due the replacement of equipment.

In total, there are just over a thousand public bathrooms in New York City. That’s roughly one restroom for every 8,000 people who live here—though tourists and commuters have to heed nature’s call, too. Though the city has introduced new public restrooms since 2018 —such as the five new park toilets scheduled to open this summer— Sunday library closures, and the slow reopening of subway bathrooms since pandemic-related closures, are just two ways that public toilet access has become less reliable.

Langsdon, whose mother is a librarian in Utah, said he went to Jefferson Market Library in search of a “reliable third space.” “I always go to libraries,” he said. “They’re safe. The libraries here are usually really, really nice and have great resources. And I can be there without having to be expected to make a transaction.” But in this instance, he had to leave the public library for a nearby business, where he bought a coffee in order to use the restroom. He hasn’t returned since.