Beacon_Hill_Branch_Library

Beacon Hill Branch Library

Beacon Hill Branch Library

Library in Seattle, Washington, U.S.


The Beacon Hill Branch Library is a branch of the Seattle Public Library in the Beacon Hill neighborhood.

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Beacon Hill is one of five branches, all south of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, that saw declining use in the 2010s, possibly because job-seekers in the city's less affluent southern half had been using libraries during Seattle's 2008-2012 recession.[7]

History

Beacon Hill Branch was housed in a number of locations, including a location at 2519 15th Avenue South converted to a library in 1962.[8] It was described as "the poster child for Seattle's worn-out library system", a "crumbling 1920s-era variety store with more books than shelves to hold them".[9] A new library was funded by a "Libraries for All" bond in 1998. The building opened in 2004 and included stone from the same quarry as the downtown Central Library.[10]

In 2017, the library underwent a $696,000 renovation to increase the number of electrical outlets for digital devices and add a "laptop bar", install LED lighting, de-clutter the checkout area, and make other improvements for patrons.[6][11]

Public art

Public art installed at the library includes The Dream Ship: Beacon Hill Discovery, a kinetic sculpture atop a spire rising through a hole in the roof at the building's entrance. Other pieces include haiku carved in stones and rain scuppers shaped like ravens' beaks.[12] These and certain elements of the interior design were called "phony multiculturalism" by a critic for Seattle's The Stranger weekly newspaper.[13] Four years after the opening, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said of another Seattle library design that it "shuns architectural drama" unlike the Beacon Hill and other contemporaries.[14]


References

  1. Charles E. Brown (July 9, 2004), "Here and Now – New Beacon Hill Library", The Seattle Times
  2. "Beacon Hill Branch building facts". Seattle Public Library. Archived from the original on 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  3. "About the Beacon Hill Branch". Seattle Public Library. Archived from the original on 2017-10-31. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  4. Fact sheet for improvements to the Beacon Hill Branch, Seattle Public Library, archived from the original on 2017-11-01, retrieved 2017-12-31
  5. Gene Balk (2016-06-12). "Seattle libraries get quieter, but digital use booms". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2018-11-18.
  6. Alan J. Stein (December 10, 2000), "Beacon Hill Branch, The Seattle Public Library", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink
  7. Byrnes, Susan (October 14, 1998), "Turning a page: Seattle Proposition 1, a $196.4 million facelift, would expand and renovate the public library system", The Seattle Times, p. A1, ProQuest 383645176
  8. Marcus Harrison Green (May 2, 2007), "Beacon Hill celebrates grand re-imagining of neighborhood library", South Seattle Emerald
  9. Art at the Beacon Hill Branch, Seattle Public Library, archived from the original on 2017-11-01, retrieved 2018-01-01
  10. Wendi Dunlap (April 19, 2013), "Beacon Hill library: the "Heart of Darkness"?", Beacon Hill Blog
  11. Lawrence Cheek (November 24, 2008), "On Architecture: AIA awards for top local designs seem almost backhanded", Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sources


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