Harold Washington Library

Coordinates: 41°52′35″N 87°37′41″W / 41.87639°N 87.62806°W / 41.87639; -87.62806
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Harold Washington Library Center
Map
General information
Architectural styleNew Classical Postmodernism
Address400 S. State Street
Town or cityChicago, Illinois
CountryUnited States
Coordinates41°52′35″N 87°37′41″W / 41.87639°N 87.62806°W / 41.87639; -87.62806
CompletedOctober 7, 1991
ClientChicago Public Library
Design and construction
Architect(s)Hammond, Beeby and Babka

The Harold Washington Library Center is the central library for the Chicago Public Library System. It is located just south of the Loop 'L', at 400 S. State Street in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a full-service library and is ADA compliant. As with all libraries in the Chicago Public Library system, it has free Wi-Fi internet service. Opened in 1991, it functionally replaced (after more than a decade) the city's 19th-century central library. The building contains approximately 756,000 sq ft (70,200 m2) of work space.[1] The total square footage is approximately 972,000 sq ft (90,300 m2) including the rooftop winter-garden event space.[2] It is named in honor of Mayor Harold Washington.

History

The Library's Winter Garden on the 9th floor

With the conversion of Chicago's former central library into the

SOM. The entries were narrowed down to two finalists: The Chicago Library Team with Helmut Jahn's glassy, modern design, and the SEBUS coalition, whose postmodern design by Hammond, Beeby and Babka took elements from nearby historic buildings. Notably, Jahn's design was to have arched over Van Buren Street onto the area that is now occupied by Pritzker Park, incorporating a new elevated station on Chicago's Loop. These elements were deemed too expensive, along with the rest of Jahn's design, so the Hammond, Beeby and Babka design won the competition. The architectural models that the entrant teams created are located on the eighth floor of the Harold Washington Library Center, except the SEBUS entry, which is located in the ninth floor Special Collections.[5]

With the support of Harold Washington and Chicago's wealthy

Great Chicago Fire of 1871 by donating over 8,000 books to the city, which became the foundation of the first public library. This collection was housed in a variety of locations, until the Central Library was built in 1891.[6] The Harold Washington Library opened on October 7, 1991. Since completion, the library has appeared in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest public library building in the world. In 2013 the architect and chairman of Hammond, Beeby and Babka, Thomas H. Beeby, won the prestigious Driehaus Architecture Prize
for this and other projects.

Architecture

Owl on the southwest corner of the building

Exterior

The exterior evokes the design of the

Auditorium and the Monadnock buildings. The bottom portion is made of large granite blocks. Red brick makes up the majority of the exterior. These two portions draw on the Beaux-Art style.[7]

The pediments and most of the west side facing Plymouth Court are glass, steel and aluminum with ornamentation hearkening to the Mannerist style.[7]

In 1993, the roof was ornamented with seven large, painted aluminum acroteria designed by Kent Bloomer with owl figures by Raymond Kaskey.[8] The acroterium on the State Street side depicts an owl, a symbol of knowledge due to its association with the Greek goddess Athena. The acroteria on the Congress Parkway (now Ida. B. Wells Drive) and on the Van Buren sides contain seed pods, which represent the natural bounty of the Midwest. The acroteria angularia each contain an owl perched in foliage.

On the divide between the granite blocks and the brick portions are wall medallions that have the face of

Ceres
and ears of corn.

On the north, east and south sides of the build are five story tall arched windows. Between the windows are rope friezes.

Interior

All public doors lead to the lobby. The north public entrance on Van Buren is just east of the CTA's Harold Washington Library–State/Van Buren station, served by the Brown, Orange, Pink and Purple Lines. The corridor goes east, then south, then west, and opens south to the lobby.

Lobby

The east and south public entrances open directly to the lobby. The west public entrance opens to the offices. The west corridor goes east then south to open at the lobby.

  • The lower level houses the Cindy
    Pritzker
    Auditorium, Multi-Purpose Room and Exhibit Hall.
  • The central lobby is two stories tall and includes both the circulation and information desks. On the east side, the Popular Library is housed and on the West side there is a YouMedia space for teens.
  • The second floor houses the Thomas Hughes Children’s library.
  • The third floor includes computers for public use, periodicals, and interlibrary loan and general information services departments along with a
    3D printers
    , CNC machines and Laser Cutters. Use of these machines is available for a nominal fee.
  • The fourth floor holds the business, general sciences, and technology items.
  • The fifth floor holds government publications, Chicago municipal references, maps, and an assistive resources and talking book center for the blind, visually impaired and physically disabled.
  • The sixth floor holds social sciences and history resources.
  • The seventh floor holds literature and language resources as well as a work by acclaimed Polish sculptor Jerzy Kenar.
  • The eighth floor holds visual and performing arts resources, music practice rooms, and audio/visual rooms.
  • The ninth floor holds the Winter Garden, which may serve as a reading room or be rented for social functions. Also on this floor are exhibit halls, Special Collections, and the Harold Washington Archives and Collections.
  • The tenth floor is not open to the public. It houses library offices and technical services.[9]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Harold Washington (Chicago Public Library), Chicago, IL" on Celsus: A Library Architecture Resource
  2. ^ "City of Chicago:Zoning Website". gisapps.cityofchicago.org. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  3. ^ Ziemba, Stanley (1 March 1989). "Brick-by-brick End For Mandel Building". Chicago Tribune.
  4. ^ "Harold Washington Library Center". Deslinger. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  5. ^ "Harold Washington Library Center Design/Build Competition". Chicago Public Library. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  6. ^ "Harold Washington (Chicago Public Library), Chicago, IL". Wikispaces. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Harold Washington Library Center from University of Chicago Press".
  8. ^ "Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Public Library tour". Retrieved 2010-05-06.
  9. ^ "Harold Washington (Chicago Public Library), Chicago, IL". Wikispaces. Retrieved 19 March 2014.

External links

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