Renovation Activates History and Culture

Perspectives in Architecture

By Melody Harclerode

Melody L. Harclerode, AIA, promotes significant historical, cultural, and natural sites as an organizational leader, architect and writer.

The July 25, 1921 opening of the Auburn Avenue Branch of the Carnegie Library gave African Americans access to an Atlanta public library nearly twenty years after the construction of the Carnegie Library downtown as the city’s first branch in 1902. One of more than 2,800 libraries built across the country with funding from American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), the red brick building at 333 Auburn Avenue housed the Negro History Collection consisting of books, magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals by, for, and about African Americans. After this branch shuttered in 1959, the renamed Samuel W. Williams Collection on Black America moved to different locations until the 1994 construction of the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History at 101 Auburn Avenue.

Popularity of the library collections and public programs and the 2008 Fulton County voter approval of the library bond referendum spurred the expansion and redesign of the Auburn

Avenue Research Library in 2016 by the team of Atlanta-based J. W. Robinson & Associates and Durham, North Carolina-based The Freelon Group (now Perkins and Will). Although widely admired leaders of both architectural firms, Jeffrey Robinson, AIA, NOMA and Phillip Freelon, FAIA, NOMA, died in 2019, both men leave a design legacy by activating an impractical, yet significant building in collaboration with Project Lead Designer Kenneth Luker, AIA.

Metal exterior cladding added to the massive, brick entry creates elegant framing around a riveting, wall-mounted steel sculpture, From the Cabinet, by celebrated painter, sculpture, and mixed-media artist Radcliffe Bailey. Reconfiguring previous disjointed spaces around a warmly finished lobby with informative artifacts and an inviting, central stairway, the design team draws visitors upward from street level spaces in the building, including an auditorium, the small Children’s Gallery with the Roots of Rap exhibit through March 1st, and the spacious CaryMcPheeters Gallery with recent visual art honoring writer Toni Morrison, to the archival rooms and reading rooms on the third and fourth floors.

Artwork in the library celebrates AfricanAmerican culture and figures, such as Mary Fields, also known as Stagecoach Mary, who became the first African-American female contracted mail carrier in 1885 at age 60. This special library of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System received the 2017 Award of Excellence from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission for Interior Design of Public Spaces, Urban Design & Public Art. With a noteworthy building design, exhibits, programming, and archives, the general public, students, and scholars will see the renovated Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History as an enriching destination to research and appreciate the history and culture of the Sweet Auburn community and peoples of African descent during Black History Month in February and throughout the year.

Atlanta and Engel & Völkers Brookhaven, will join Engel & Volkers Atlanta as the qualifying broker. For more information on Engel & Völkers Atlanta, visit evatlanta.com.

▼Affordable housing nonprofits Enterprise Community Partners, Project Community Connections and Mercy Housing Southeast were recently presented with a $350,000 grant from Wells Fargo Foundation to support housing affordability and neighborhood revitalization efforts in Atlanta. The funding will go towards building Thrive Sweet Auburn – a mixeduse development with 117 affordable apartments in Old Fourth Ward.

▲Engel & Völkers Atlanta has acquired Engel & Völkers North Atlanta, Engel & Völkers Intown Atlanta and Engel & Völkers Brookhaven, which will operate solely under the Engel & Völkers Atlanta brand. The consolidation brings markets such as Virginia Highland, Decatur, East Atlanta and Morningside under the firm’s management. With the new agreement, the former Engel & Völkers Intown Atlanta will remain in its current space in Morningside. To accommodate the expanded fleet of incoming agents, the firm’s office will undergo an extensive renovation. Scott Askew, formerly of Engel & Völkers Intown

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers recently opened a full-service office in Midtown, their 27th office and first in the Intown area in the company’s 40-year history, at the 1010 Midtown development.

Pollack Shores Real Estate Group and Matrix Residential are rebranding under one name, RangeWater Real Estate. “A year ago, we embarked on a plan to unite Pollack Shores and Matrix Residential under one name,” said Steven Shores, CEO and President of RangeWater. “We have always been one company under common ownership, but as we have grown to cover markets across the Sun Belt, we recognized the advantages of operating under one brand with a renewed purpose. As RangeWater, we will continue to deliver the full breadth and depth of our expertise and services in every market in which we operate.” For more information, visit LiveRangeWater.com.

▼Harry Norman, Realtors agent Zak de Leon has been appointed as inaugural Chair of the new organization, Young Professionals for Piedmont Park, established through Piedmont Park Conservancy. The organization is a group of individuals dedicated to the preservation of the park as well as the enhancement of the park experience.