Actress offers peek into NYPL’s hidden apts.
Sharon Washington spent most of her childhood worried about feeding the dragon.
Washington, 57, lived with her parents and grandmother in a series of apartments tucked into the top floors of New York public libraries and often watched as her father, a custodian, shoveled coal into a raging furnace — her firebreathing, insatiable dragon.
“Our family motto was ‘Don’t let the furnace go out,’ ” said Washington, an actress who played Judge Hayes on “Law & Order: SVU.”
Her new one-woman play, “Feeding the Dragon,” opens Friday at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre and chronicles a childhood in which she had birthday parties in the libraries, played hopscotch on the black-tar roofs, but also stepped in with her mom to shovel coal when her alcoholic dad went on a binge.
“We could barely lift the coal shovel between us, but if we didn’t feed the furnace, he’d be out of a job and we’d be homeless,” she said.
Starting at age 5, Washington lived with her family in apart- ments at three city libraries — in Harlem and on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side.
The flats were part of a littleknown network of apartments built into the 30 “Carnegie” libraries scattered around the New York Public Library system — all financed by a $5.2 million grant from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie at the turn of the 20th century.
They were provided rent-free to the custodians who took care of the buildings, which were heated by coal furnaces and required round-the-clock maintenance.
The rent break allowed her parents to pay for part of her tuition to the exclusive Dalton School, where she was given a scholarship.
While most of the apartments were absorbed into the libraries when coal furnaces were phased out decades ago, 13 remain, with 11 in libraries funded by Carnegie.
All are abandoned, even though many would likely fetch up to millions of dollars on the market.
The apartment in the Hudson Park library in the West Village is a duplex three-bedroom with high ceilings and private roof access and views of a Keith Haring mural.
It will soon be transformed into storage and staff facilities.
“We’re trying to free up more space for our children’s programs,” said Miranda Murray, manager of the branch.
In addition to the Hudson Park apartment, the NYPL is planning renovations to flats at libraries in Staten Island, The Bronx, Harlem and Washington Heights. Most of the work is being financed by a city grant of $100 million, said library spokeswoman Angela Montefinise.
The library wants to turn all of the remaining apartments into usable space, she said.
As the apartments disappear, Washington is doing her part to preserve the memory of what she called a magical space. In addition to the play, she is working on a children’s book.
“I had a key to the front door of the library,” she said. “And when I crossed that doorway, it was like crossing from one side to the other, from reality to fantasy.”