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Libraries
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 Immediately
Endangered: Haydon
Burns Library, 122
N. Ocean Street, Jacksonville, FL 32202, Taylor Hardwick, 1965.
"When
it was built in 1965, Jacksonville's main library was considered
state of the art. The library trustees' building committee and Taylor
Hardwick visited six significant new libraries throughout the United
States and incorporated the best thinking in library design and
operation into the final concept. A nationally known library consultant,
John Hall Jacobs, also contributed to the development of the design
program. Construction cost in 1965 was $3.7 million. (Equivalent
to $22.3 million in 2004 dollars.) The building and site are now
on the tax rolls for $6.2 million. Taylor Hardwick specified and
designed all interior furnishings, graphics, and innovative free-standing
book shelves. His attention to detail extended to a careful use
of cheerful color and a sensitive use of natural light." See
more of Hardwick's work at the Taylor
Hardwick AIA Emeritus site.
[Forsyth Street
retaining wall contains reading room garden. Pre-cast concrete fins
(left) with aluminum panels shade exterior glass on all three floors.
Semicircular alcoves on street level break monotony of retaining
wall and provide sidewalk enhancement.]
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 Immediately
Endangered: The
Monrovia Public Library. Built
by notable local architects Eugene Fickes and Dewey Harnish, it
was heralded in major newspapers as "one of the most outstanding
buildings of its kind in Southern California" when it opened in
1957. Surrounding it are a number of other mid-century modern buildings
forming a cluster within the city's core, including the City Hall,
Post Office, TzuChi, GTE, Masonic Temple, and Fire Station. The
city wants to tear the MPL down and build something "bigger
and better." One plausible alternative: use the mid-century
modern structure as a children's library and build a new addition
for today's users. The website
says it all. Of particular interest: list
of historic criteria fulfillment and Letter
to the City of Monrovia that you can print and send. The MPL
needs your support. Act Today! |
 Martin
Luther King, Jr., Library, 901 G Street, NW, Washington, D.C.,
by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1972.
The new
420,000 square foot black metal and bronze-tinted glass building was
praised at
its opening by
Wolf von Eckardt, the Washington Post's architecture critic, who declared,
"For once in a public building in Washington, there is excellence
throughout." Despite a concept plan for an extensive renovation that
would cost half as much as a new building, the District government
is pursuing plans to replace the current library with a new, smaller
building one block to the north. The sale and demolition or inappropriate
alteration of the Mies designed building is part of the proposal.
Only public opposition to the plans to build a new library will ensure
the survival of this monument to both Mies and MLK in Washington,
DC. Read more of the story here, submitted
by RPPN D.C. Rep. Alexander M. Padro. |
Front of building,
1964. Photo by Joel Strasser.
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The
Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. Thorson,
Brom and Broshar, Architects, 1964. The
Rod Library was built in three phases over a period of more than
30 years. All three construction projects in the heart of campus
have presented contractors with special problems. More photographs
and history available at University
of Northern Iowa, Rod Library Special Collections and University
Archives.
Reserve and Circulation Desks, 1964. Photo by Joel
Strasser.
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