Harold Washington Library: much more than books
Published: Mar 26, 2009
Downtown Chicago is packed with impressive buildings, from historic stone water towers to mammoth metal skyscrapers — so it takes a lot to impress jaded Chicagoans. But whenever the Harold Washington Library Center comes into view, heads turn.
At 756,640 square feet, the hulking stone and metal structure covers a full city block and has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the world's largest public library building. Its sheer size isn’t what draws stares though; it’s the fascinating juxtaposition of modern and gothic architecture.
Red brick mixes with granite and glass, and five-story arched windows lead the eye up to the building’s roof where massive metal gargoyle-like barn owls perch at the four corners, said to represent knowledge.
The structure was the vision of Chicago’s first African-American mayor, Harold Washington, and the City Council, who in 1987 authorized a design competition for the library’s new site in the South Loop.
Budgeted at $144 million, library construction began in 1988 and was completed in August 1991. The library was dedicated to Washington, who died in November 1987.
Inside, the library is home to countless volumes, audio-visual items and periodicals, as well as an 18,000-square-foot children’s library with the largest collection of children’s books in the city. Also open to the public are a 385-seat auditorium, video theater and a glass-enclosed 100-foot-tall top-floor winter garden, which can be rented for special occasions.
The library offers a wide range of free programs for patrons, including story hours, author readings, exhibits and dance and musical performances, as well as the City of Chicago’s Public Art Collection. Considered the single largest public art project in the City of Chicago’s history, the collection holds more than 50 works, which are on display on every floor of the library.
In the library’s majestic main lobby are furniture and paintings from the Grand Army of the Republic Museum, a sweeping mosaic chronicling Harold Washington’s life, as well as a beautiful floor map tracing the route of Chicago’s first settler, Jean Baptiste du Sable, from his home in Haiti to the Great Lakes.
This library is much more than a collection of books; it's a visual history of the city it represents and the culture of those who helped shape it. Visitors to the Harold Washington Library Center can explore the past, present and architectural future of Chicago, and all for a great price: free.
- by D.J. Siegel, Chicago Reporter for HelloMetro
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