This is the story of my love affair with a library.
Actually, two libraries. The same library, but two different buildings. Let me
explain.
I love libraries in general and all New York Public Library branches
in particular. Every single NYPL branch has something special to admire, and I
have been in and out of most of them.
I first fell in love with the Kingsbridge Branch of the New
York Public Library in 2003. I would notice it from the bus ride with Hannah,
and later Hannah and Noah, on the way to swimming lessons.
Seeing the Kingsbridge Library from the bus filled me with a
deep feeling of happiness, sadness and longing. I often experience this mixture
of emotions when I see a mid-century modern building, with clean optimistic
lines, infused with a heady modernism, but gone to seed. It is a potent and
poignant feeling. It is hard to replicate any other way.
This Kingsbridge library opened on January 23rd, 1959. I
like to imagine that day. It replaced an old, rather stuffy looking building
that had become too small for the growing population.
Eventually, I made a point to visit the library and got up
close and personal with it as a library user. I was able to experience it
inside and out in all of its faded glory. I used my imagination to mentally
delete the out of date computers, a hodgepodge of ugly updates, the unseemly
piles that were evidence of a space busting at the seams.
While book shopping I reveled in the Danish modern shelving
and furniture still in use, the enormous windows which let in copious quantities
of natural light through their smudged panels, the flooring, still pretty
through years of scuff marks.
There was a big empty lot across the street from the
library. Ground broke after many fits and starts on a brand new branch of the
Kingsbridge branch of the NYPL. The construction took place behind large wooden
fencing.
I was predisposed not to like the new library.
Jeremy and I joked that we wanted to buy the old library,
lovingly restore it and then live there. Humor aside, if we could have done it,
we would have.
My kids stopped taking swimming lessons. I forgot about the
old Kingsbridge library and the new Kingsbridge library, until one day, a
friend who I deeply respect told me she took her children there. She said it was beautiful.
So I packed Hannah and Noah up for an outing. The kids were
used to being taken to the library. We are a reading kind of family and a book
shopping kind of family.
I couldn't help but notice the sad, but still beautiful
empty shell of the old public library across the street, just begging Jeremy
and I to move in. But the new library was splendid, expansive, modern and
peaceful.
Whenever the NYPL renovates a library or builds a new
library, it seems to fill it with brand new books. I don't know what happens to
the old books. All three of us loved the new books. Noah shopped quickly, then
wasted no time settling in to read. Hannah and I browsed longer.
This library is an oasis.
The kids have gotten older. They don't often go with me to
the library. That's okay. I love them exactly as they are.
The Kingsbridge library, re-imagined by architect David W.
Prendergast is now my favorite NYPL branch. It isn't within walking distance of
anywhere I go. So once or twice a year, I make a special pilgrimage. I step in
from the kinetic energy of 231st street to an elevated, breathtaking and Zen-like
jewel. I am transported somewhere else.
While doing some cursory research for this post, I fell down
a rabbit hole in my unsuccessful attempt to find the name of the architect who
designed the 1959 building. I found surprisingly little about this little
building on the Internet. It exists in a nebulous, misty place largely outside
of Google. My first real research project
- with books - since college
may very well be about the 1959 Kingsbridge library.
I am truly enamored with version 2011. The aging split-level
structure across the way is now a physical therapy center, bowing from semi-
neglect and a bastardized doorway. But
my romance with it is far from over.
This swoon worthy architectural rendering of the 1959
version of the library was one of the few treasures I found on the Internet.
Image courtesy of the New York Public Library.
Re-purposed and weary, my smitten heart says this is still a
mid century gem.
The new building has much curb appeal.
I took a closer look at the beautiful detailing and textures
outside of the entrance.
Light filled and dramatic, the library's design is at once
magnificent, welcoming and calming.
I like to think that many of the details are a nod to the
1959 building, which served as the library for over 50 years.
Beautiful windows bring the outdoors in.
Books abound - of
course!
Whimsy from the wonderful children's library.
Nothing was left to chance is designing this modern marvel.
There is a rare and special relationship between the outer architecture and the
interior.
Read more about the Kingsbridge library here.
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