By Eva Posner
The San Diego Central Library, “a dream 30 years in the making” according to T-shirts worn by the staff, is a dream on the cusp of being realized as it opens for business Monday, Sept. 30, at 9:30 a.m.
The library, located on the intersection of 11th Avenue and Park Boulevard downtown, opened to the public for a sneak peek on Saturday to much hype.
A street fair surrounded the library with activities for kids, booths from local businesses, nonprofits and groups, as well as performers who sang, danced, and walked the street in costume.
The public was limited to the first floor, which includes the architecturally striking lobby, computers, a children’s library, gift shop, courtyard, auditorium, and a portion of the library’s million available books.
The “sneak peek” was undoubtedly a sales pitch to San Diego residents to show that the effort and money spent since 1977, when the library was first proposed, was worth it. According to U-T San Diego, the final library budget was $196.7 million, $62.8 million of which was donated by private donors, whose names can be seen on beams and bricks throughout the building.
Judging by the massive crowd, the pitch worked. I know I’m going to get a library card.
All photos by Eva Posner
John Anderson says
Great photos – can’t wait to check it out in person next week! Official opening day is Monday, September 30th from 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Special hours opening day only) per the library website:
micaela porte says
a public effort if ever there was one… congratulations san diego! BUT,
we sure hope san diego officials don’t take this PUBLIC BAILOUT of the massive, if glorious, library project as a precedent for their next public project, because we, the people, are gonna get tired of bailing out our “elected officials” for over-spending… I say this having given $500 to the poor library last year in the water bill beg, but still got on the library foundation’s “forgotten” list for invitations, even a generic one, to the big opening reception ! and they have no idea where i might find our family”brick” or if it is even there …. good luck library foundation non-profiteers…
everything is over-priced when it comes from “the government” … even good things like libraries…
Gem says
I’ve been hearing (I’m a volunteer as well as a brick-donor) that there are plans to have a brick map at some point so people can locate the brick they donated. This is not likely to happen very soon since they’ve reopened the Buy-A-Brick program; they have a lot more bricks coming. When all the bricks are in, they’ll start on a Brick Map.
cathy schweikhard says
The Library is exciting and I can’t wait to check it out. I want to kick back on the blue chairs in the reading room with a good read. I also might want to just look at the view. The numbers are staggering and the amount of time it took…wow! I hope it really becomes a hub for the entire community. Also with all the good things happening in the East Village I hope it keeps spreading to the Barrio and works to solve the homeless situation. Big words, Big jobs.
John Lawrence says
How about if the local benefactors got together and built a world class homeless shelter with private donations? That would be a worthy next step for the local philanthropic community. On the other hand would they be repulsed by the idea of having their names splashed all over a homeless center the way they’re splashed all over the library? Probably. Hey, but they could donate anonymously something some of them would never do.
john eisenhart says
Thoughts on this project:
I toured the building in December of 2011. At that time you could see the building was going to have a number of interesting spaces, nice concrete work. I look forward to seeing these spaces now, two years in advance.
The dome feature , exterior elevation composites are in the deconstructivist mode- derivative style of LA-Frank Gehry’s design break through in the 1970’s. The architect chose this vocabulary for this building at this particular site because that is his design style. Not sure that his style works for larger buildings or projects. At a smaller scale, his personal building on 13th/ Island is an outstanding example of this style. A must see for anyone who loves architecture.
My understanding is the General contractor had a laundry list of change orders based on the inadequate construction documents from consultants. ( not the consultants fault but the city did not want to pay to update the documents.) Any project that takes this long and involves a large number of change orders has to have a huge profit margin. How much money was spent on consultants and the general contractor? Ultimately these money things are forgotten if the building is beautiful and the public loves it. But still I would be interested to know. Who’s paying Who on public money?
Finally, the old Library is historically designated (including certain interior spaces) Lets hope this is a successful adaptive reuse project.