Exterior work on controversial library renovation underway

By Collin Kelley

Controversial work to the exterior of the Central Library in Downtown is underway as part of a $50 million renovation of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library’s main hub.

The altering of Bauhaus-movement architect Marcel Breuer’s final work to add windows has been a sore point with architects and preservationists. The Brutalist structure was built in 1980 and the waffling over its future earned it a spot on the World Monuments Watch List of Most Endangered Sites in 2010.

The first six floors of the library are being renovated to include all new mechanical equipment, flooring, restrooms and lighting. A new grand staircase will lead patrons from the lobby to the new technology center on the second floor. A new fifth-floor indoor/outdoor conference center and event space is also being built.

A series of concrete panels on the exterior will be replaced with new windows that will allow additional natural light into the interior of the renovated library.

Workers with Winter Johnson Group are scheduled to have a crane maneuvering along Forsyth Avenue and Carnegie Way in upcoming days. The crane will be used to remove the five-ton panels from the Carnegie Way side of the building. Workers removed several panels from the Williams Street side of the 40-year-old building last month.

As part of the construction, four trees along Forsyth Avenue in front of the library and one tree in the plaza will be removed. Once the panels are removed and construction completed, four Aeryn Trident Maple trees will be planted, as well as five Green Shadow Sweetbay magnolia trees in the renovated front plaza. Work at the Central Library is expected to continue through next summer, with a late fall 2020 re-opening date.

Work on the exterior is underwway to install windows in the facade of the Central Library, as shown in this rendering. (Photo courtesy Friends of the Central Library)

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