After spending the day soaked in the inspiring story of Seattle’s Central Library I thought I was a convert. I was so behind Joshua Prince-Ramus’s ideas for ‘compartmentalism’ and modern library design - I could feel the beauty of the ideas behind the design. Feeling a little smug, I headed out to Seattle’s Fremont Branch, located at 731 N. 35th Street in Seattle. At the first flickr click I felt the warmth of the massive wood beams ooze out of my laptop ...the polished wooden shelves, arched windows, book-lined walls...I could even smell the coziness, or maybe that was mustiness. So much for my architectural conviction and modern sensibility, I was right back where I started from, in love with an ancient gray haired library. I know modern libraries are more authentic, have more design integrity and meet the needs of the community (and the books) but there is such character and sense of place in an old library, I can’t help it, they make me feel good!
I mulled it over all day and decided I might just have to love them both - just like the little black dress and the jeans, sushi and oatmeal, mountains and oceans or chocolate and peanut butter. Impossible to choose.
Fremont is a Carnegie Library, you knew that was coming, right? Built in 1917 with a $35,000 grant from Carnegie, it was renovated to its original beauty with money from the “Libraries For All” bond in 2005. Mission Revival architecture is not that kind of thing we see in W.N.Y or New England and I was curious.
The original missions were built by Spanish missionaries in the Southwest in the late 1700s to the early 1800s in order to convert Native Americans to Christianity and establish a taxpaying base for New Spain. Now this sounds like familiar New England ground, know-it-all Europeans with a plan to help, educate and convert the Native Americans (and use them for their greater good). While the Spanish introduced fruits, vegetables, horses, livestock and ranching to the southwest, they weren’t exactly a big help to the Native Americans. Their plan for converting and civilize the tribes was remarkably uncivilized. They quickly baptized the men (and then required that they remain in at the mission to work and worship) and assigned the women to a nunnery for their ‘protection’, until they died out from disease and unsanitary conditions. In 1830 the Mexican government ordered that the missions be closed and the building were cleared out and abandoned.
The missions shared certain architectural details mainly because building materials and construction skills were limited but their style certainly has a charm and warmth that appealed to fans of Mission Revival Architecture at the turn of the century. Massive stucco walls, heavy beams, clay tile roofs, limited windows and unadorned surfaces are all characteristics of the Mission Revival style.
The overall effect of the design at the Freemont Branch is intimate and accessible. Tucked under the Aurora Bridge it calls out like a bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day - just what the doctor ordered. The dark timber trusses in the reading room shelter the readers from the moder outside world and remind us of our checkered history.
I mulled it over all day and decided I might just have to love them both - just like the little black dress and the jeans, sushi and oatmeal, mountains and oceans or chocolate and peanut butter. Impossible to choose.
Fremont is a Carnegie Library, you knew that was coming, right? Built in 1917 with a $35,000 grant from Carnegie, it was renovated to its original beauty with money from the “Libraries For All” bond in 2005. Mission Revival architecture is not that kind of thing we see in W.N.Y or New England and I was curious.
The original missions were built by Spanish missionaries in the Southwest in the late 1700s to the early 1800s in order to convert Native Americans to Christianity and establish a taxpaying base for New Spain. Now this sounds like familiar New England ground, know-it-all Europeans with a plan to help, educate and convert the Native Americans (and use them for their greater good). While the Spanish introduced fruits, vegetables, horses, livestock and ranching to the southwest, they weren’t exactly a big help to the Native Americans. Their plan for converting and civilize the tribes was remarkably uncivilized. They quickly baptized the men (and then required that they remain in at the mission to work and worship) and assigned the women to a nunnery for their ‘protection’, until they died out from disease and unsanitary conditions. In 1830 the Mexican government ordered that the missions be closed and the building were cleared out and abandoned.
The missions shared certain architectural details mainly because building materials and construction skills were limited but their style certainly has a charm and warmth that appealed to fans of Mission Revival Architecture at the turn of the century. Massive stucco walls, heavy beams, clay tile roofs, limited windows and unadorned surfaces are all characteristics of the Mission Revival style.
The overall effect of the design at the Freemont Branch is intimate and accessible. Tucked under the Aurora Bridge it calls out like a bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day - just what the doctor ordered. The dark timber trusses in the reading room shelter the readers from the moder outside world and remind us of our checkered history.
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