Though we may be in the digital age, no technology can compare to the feeling of a good book in your hands. And we want to showcase our favorite volumes in a space that’s comfortable, personal, and unique. While public and university libraries are often vast and full of splendor, home libraries are more intimate (but not any less gorgeous). The room can be formal and elegant or colorful and cozy, and stylish focal points like a fireplace, desk, or snug sitting area keep things just as interesting as the volumes on the shelves. Here, we gathered up the most beautiful home libraries from our archives to inspire your own literary retreat. See how to create home library shelving that puts your favorite books on display for a space that’s well-designed and well-read.
Modern White Shelving
In Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood, Simon Jacobsen, a partner at Jacobsen Architecture, joined two 1863 row houses, creating a residence for him and his family. A living room was transformed into a library with egg-cratelike shelving, chairs and tables by Le Corbusier and Eames, and a desk designed by the architect.
Soaring Wood Shelves
It “makes vague reference to the classical Ionic order,” Katherine Newman says of the library in a postmodern Toronto house she designed with architectural designer/builder Peter Cebulak. The room’s finely carved capitals are complemented by a great number of noteworthy antiques, among them a circa 1790 satinwood worktable.
A Library That Does Double Duty
“I wanted to have a library that doubled as a dining room, where I could be surrounded by the books I love,” says best-selling author and historian Barbara Goldsmith, who hired interior designer Mica Ertegün to update and decorate her Park Avenue apartment.
A Collected Display
Designer Stephen Shadley and actress Diane Keaton, who has a passion for restoring old California homes, turned the double-height entrance hall of her Spanish Colonial Revival house in Beverly Hills into an entrance library, filling it with pots and other artifacts as well as books devoted to the visual arts. “The library sets the mood,” explains Shadley. “It’s a distillation of everything that goes on in the house.”
A Double-Height Penthouse Library
In a 17,500-square-foot penthouse overlooking the port of Monte Carlo, Martin Kemp, head designer at Candy & Candy, produced an opulent yet inviting library in a once-cavernous space. Kemp chose the vast numbers of antiquarian and modern books for the room, which he confessed was “no chore, because I love books.”
A Library with a View
At a house she remodeled in California’s Carmel Valley, designer Sally Sirkin Lewis encircled the library with shelves, added French doors to bring in views of the lush landscape, and outfitted the space with Le Corbusier Grand Confort armchairs.
A Modern Display of Antique Books
Architect David Ling renovated an Upper East Side apartment for a bibliophile neurosurgeon and incorporated a rare-book library—which Ling described as “the centerpiece of the design”—to the mix. Medical books, some dating to the 15th century, line the modern shelves. The sitting area features a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona table surrounded by a Le Corbusier love seat and sling-back chairs.
A Traditional Mahogany-Paneled Study
Among the improvements designer Friederike Kemp Biggs with architect George W. Sweeney made to her penthouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was adding a mahogany-paneled library. The favorite retreat of her husband, Jeremy, the room features an antique desk and a flat-screen TV concealed behind faux book bindings. There is an inscription on the ceiling adapted from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams in 1815: “I cannot live without my books.”
A Classic Bookcase with an Artful Twist
New York City decorator Thomas Jayne restored a 19th-century house in Philadelphia to its former glory. In the library, where French Empire chairs flank an English Regency table, the bookshelf also serves as a backdrop for art.
A Traditional Mahogany-Paneled Study
Among the improvements designer Friederike Kemp Biggs with architect George W. Sweeney made to her penthouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was adding a mahogany-paneled library. The favorite retreat of her husband, Jeremy, the room features an antique desk and a flat-screen TV concealed behind faux book bindings. There is an inscription on the ceiling adapted from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams in 1815: “I cannot live without my books.”
A Classic Bookcase with an Artful Twist
New York City decorator Thomas Jayne restored a 19th-century house in Philadelphia to its former glory. In the library, where French Empire chairs flank an English Regency table, the bookshelf also serves as a backdrop for art.
A Modern Display of Antique Books
Architect David Ling renovated an Upper East Side apartment for a bibliophile neurosurgeon and incorporated a rare-book library—which Ling described as “the centerpiece of the design”—to the mix. Medical books, some dating to the 15th century, line the modern shelves. The sitting area features a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona table surrounded by a Le Corbusier love seat and sling-back chairs.
An Alluring Library Ladder
After Hurricane Katrina, designer Richard Keith Langham revisited and refreshed a Mississippi house he first decorated two decades ago. Dealer Kinsey Marable built the library’s varied book collection based on the owner’s interests; he also supplied the 19th-century ladder and antique globe.
A Tropical Take on Tradition
For a house on Harbour Island in the Bahamas, Lea Ciavarra and Anne Marie Lubrano, of Lubrano Ciavarra Architects, utilized Bahamian colonial-era details and natural materials. The central gathering place is the soaring two-story library, a cube measuring 24 feet in all directions. As in most other portions of the house, the room is lined with dense, termite-resistant South American ipê wood.
Brilliant Blue Bookcases
In the library of this Manhattan townhouse, designer Vicente Wolf hired an automotive painter to spray the built-in shelves with a metallic teal, giving the room a gloss reminiscent of the Finish Fetish movement of the ’60s and ’70s.
A Neutral Display
This Washington, D.C. library, decorated by Mariette Himes Gomez, is dominated by paneling painted in a Donald Kaufman hue that recalls Wedgwood drabware; the neutral color scheme is warmed by the ruddy tones of the carpet.
A Perfect Pair of Bookcases
In Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos’s Manhattan apartment, which was designed by Michael S. Smith, the library’s mirror and ottoman are by English Georgian; the sofa and armchair are by O. Henry House.
Warm Wood Shelving
The Indian tablecloth and taffeta curtains in designer Sig Bergamin’s Brazilian library were found in Paris.
A Display of Antique Volumes
An Empire chandelier lights the library of Rose Hill, an 18th-century Virginia residence. Shelves designed by Amelia T. Handegan, who also decorated the room, hold books that have belonged to the home for nearly two century.
Refined Alcove Shelving
Beneath the molded-plaster ceiling of this Michael S. Smith–decorated Beverly Hills library is a George III partners’ desk, a 1968 sofa by Børge Mogensen, and an antique Khotan carpet.
Sophisticated Storage
In decorator Victoria Hagan’s Connecticut home, the library’s sofa, wing chair, cocktail table, and footstools are all of her own design.
An Opulent Collection
Kara Childress decorated a Texas home with a Louis XVI desk and 17th-century Spanish portrait sourced from France.
A Cozy Book-Filled Corner
At entrepreneur J. Christopher Burch’s home in Southampton, New York, a Walton Ford work is mounted in the oak-paneled library. The rug was designed by Christopher Maya, who decorated the space.
Statement-Making Shelves
In a Houston home, decorator Miles Redd lacquered the library’s paneling and installed a chandelier by Robert Kime over a George II drum table found at Sotheby’s International Realty® and George III–style chairs purchased at Christie’s.
A Red Reading Room
In the cherry-red library of a South Carolina home decorated by Mario Buatta, a chinoiserie fabric was used for curtains and upholstery.
Floor-to-Ceiling Shelvings
In the library of Houston decorator J. Randall Powers’s home, a Paul Ferrante ceiling fixture is suspended above a Cubist painting by Michel Patrix and a Biedermeier settee from Karl Kemp Antiques.
An Architectural Array of Bookcases
Architect Laura Sartori Rimini and interior designer Roberto Peregalli of Studio Peregalli crafted this Milanese pied-à-terre for an Italian family in the fabric business. The duo drew inspiration from original architectural details to create the library, a stately space overseen by two early-19th-century portraits; the custom-made sofas are covered in a Madeleine Castaing fabric by Brunschwig & Fils.
A Fashionable Study
In the library of accessories designer Fiona Kotur’s Hong Kong home, the pair of Christian Liaigre armchairs and the custom-made sofa and its pillows are all covered in Manuel Canovas fabrics; the cocktail table is by Yves Klein, while the Moroccan carpet from Woven Accents and the floor lamp in the corner are both vintage.
Stylish Bookcases with French Doors
At a historic New Jersey estate, decorator Matthew Frederick designed the library’s sofas, whose simple lines defer to the exuberant architecture; the rug is by Merida.
Glossy Teal Bookshelves
In the library of a Nick Olsen–designed Brooklyn brownstone, picture lights from Circa Lighting top the bookcases; the sofa is by Dune.
A Library Made for Entertaining
In the living room of Manhattan townhouse revamped by Sawyer | Berson, neoclassical French mirrors from H. M. Luther flank a Picasso ink drawing and a Sawyer | Berson–designed mantel made by Chesney’s. The bespoke sofa and club chairs, all upholstered in a Larsen silk, are grouped atop an antique Herati carpet, and a Holland & Sherry velvet covers the walls.
A Lakeside Library
Nestled at one end of a Lake Placid, New York, porch is a cozy library, painted in a Benjamin Moore red; the club chair fabric is by Colefax and Fowler, and the Alexa Hampton picture lights and the floor lamp are from Circa Lighting.
A Two-Story Study
The double-height library in this New York City townhouse is an ode to owner Andrew Solomon’s love of books. The windows and Robert Couturier–designed sofa are dressed in silk damask.
Crisp White Storage
In the library of perfumer Frédéric Malle’s New York apartment, the painting at left is by David Reed; the Danish-modern armchairs and Balinese table are from Galerie du Passage. White bookcases complement the pale furnishings.
Bright and Bold Bookshelves
A vibrant red library designed by Bruce Bierman in New York City is lined with a wall of glossy bookshelves.
A Coastal Collection
The library of a Hamptons home bucks tradition with white-painted bookshelves, a rustic English table, and barrel wicker chairs, circa 1970.
