Few, if any, good things have come from the deadly tornado that ripped through St. Louis last May—but the ceiling that was revealed at the Cabanne Library has to be counted as one of them.
Both the Cabanne Library and the Julia Davis Library suffered serious damage in the May 16 tornado, as photos from that time made clear. Staff members had to rush patrons to safety (at Julia Davis, which was harder hit, into the auditorium; at Cabanne, patrons were taken to the basement). Both only reopened their doors this month.
But when Cabanne reopened, some people who’d been regulars at the low-key branch in the city’s Academy neighborhood were stunned by the light pouring in. The previous drop ceiling was gone—and in its place the original 1907 design could be seen, with a much higher ceiling, windows, and elegant, century-old crown molding.
Justin Struttman, chief operating officer for the St. Louis Public Library, says the ceiling’s revelation was a total surprise. “I was talking to a staff member there, who said that kids would ask sometimes to go upstairs, and she’s like, ‘What are you talking about? There is no upstairs up there.’ I think a lot of the staff had no clue what was up there, and I frankly don’t know that I ever laid eyes on it until after the tornado knocked out that drop ceiling.”
Austin Doss is a vice president at St. Louis-based Wellington Environmental, which handles environmental consulting and contracting work with a focus on remediation for materials such as lead and asbestos. When the library asked the company to take a look at what the tornado had exposed, Doss says his team found peeling lead-based paint and more—and suspects that’s the reason the false ceiling was added in the first place. “I think what happened is they saw it start to deteriorate, and it was more a cost-saving method for them to put a drop ceiling in and basically cover it up,” he says.
Because some of the damage likely predated the tornado, Struttman says the library’s insurer didn’t want to pay to restore the area above the drop ceiling, though it would pay to reinstall one. But once the windows were exposed, the library just couldn’t bring itself to block them again.
“We kind of kicked it around a while, and we just said, ‘We have to do this,’” he says.
Doss’ company ended up serving as the general contractor on the project, painstakingly scraping loose the peeling paint, restoring the damaged plaster, and patching and repairing the walls all the way to the new, much higher ceiling. All American Painting, the painting subcontractor for the project, was also instrumental in working alongside Wellington to restore what was damaged. All told, he estimates the entire job came in just under $100,000. Inspired by the glow-up, the library also plans to add new lighting, with two new chandeliers donated by Matt Villa of Villa Lighting Supply.
Those glamorous new lights will be highlighting a long-forgotten piece of St. Louis history. Cabanne Library is one of five Carnegie libraries funded by Andrew Carnegie in St. Louis more than a century ago that remain in operation today. And now, after decades of coverup and concealment, it has the good bones to prove it.
“I think it’s absolutely gorgeous,” Struttman says. “Any staff member who’s been there, they look up at it, and they’re amazed by it.“
This article was originally published in St. Louis Magazine on May 29, 2026.
