5 Simply Amazing Libraries

A well-designed library is a gateway to the worlds that live within words. For more inspiration, check out our Dens & Home Offices board on Pinterest.

1. Pedro Reyes and Carla Fernández’s Mexico City Home

Stones and books are obsessions for Mexico City–based artist Pedro Reyes—and both feature prominently in his brutalist-inspired home with his fashion designer wife, Carla Fernández. Built-in bookshelves in poured concrete hug the rear wall of the home’s mezzanine level and hold Reyes’s impressive collection, to which he adds nearly 100 secondhand books every month.

2. A-Frame House by Patrick Tighe Architecture

It’s no question that Patrick Tighe’s interiors are informed by considerations of views, light, and shadow play. The prolific designer lent his signature touch to a 1961 A-frame house in Los Angeles, where the entire bottom floor is seemingly infinite—except for a library. Inside, an angular George Nelson chair invites visitors inside to enjoy the stacks of books arranged on floor-to-ceiling shelves.

3. East Hampton House by Mark Zeff

After securing a Hamptons home became more challenging than expected, Mark Zeff and his wife forwent the home search and instead opted to start from scratch. The result is a sprawling East Hampton estate where Zeff’s carte blanche reigns supreme. On the first floor, a cozy library features leather-upholstered chairs that back up to lacquered shelving populated with stacks of National Geographics.

4. Albion Barn by Studio Seilern Architects

A hidden gem in rural South Oxfordshire, Albion Barn—the digs of former London gallerist Michael Hue Williams—is replete with exquisite artworks. But the property’s most striking feature is perhaps the secret library, accessed via a discreet panel in the dining room. Studio Seilern Architects fabricated a cubic volume lined with books on all sides, channeling “a sense of seclusion, being insulated by the art volumes, and the inescapable, irresistible country-house fantasy of a secret room behind a wall of books,” says principal Christina Seilern.

5. Flatiron Factory Loft by Messana O’Rorke

When renovating a factory loft in New York’s Flatiron District, Messana O’Rorke set aside their signature minimalism for an art dealer and photographer couple keen on showing off their possessions. The apartment’s showpiece item, a built-in white oak cabinet trimmed in unlacquered brass that anchors one end of the living-dining room, holds books and incorporates glass-topped vitrines for collectibles.