Atlanta’s City Council passed a nonbinding resolution Monday calling for construction of a new Central Library building downtown.
But this confused Fulton County officials, who are still gathering input on whether to renovate the building, designed by Bauhaus-trained architect Marcel Breuer, or demolish it.
At Wednesday’s Atlanta-Fulton Public Library’s board of trustees meetings, Atlanta City Council members explained it was a misunderstanding.
Atlanta-Fulton Public Library’s board of trustees meetings rarely draw a crowd.
But at its meeting Wednesday night, more than 20 architects, attorneys and historians pleaded with the board of trustees at Central Library to save the building after it seemed like the city of Atlanta was calling for its demolition.
A Misinterpretation
But after nearly 30 minutes of public comments, one of the last speakers, Atlanta City Council member C.T. Martin, stood up.
He is a former board member of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System and explained he does not support tearing down the building and people misunderstood his intent.
“Somebody’s interpretation that in order to construct something, you got to tear something down. But you can construct something next door,” Martin said.
The resolution, however, does call for a new building at the current library’s exact address.
A Long Night
Martin said he introduced the resolution Monday night at a citizen’s request.
Was Martin now backtracking? He said only God could defend him, but fellow council member Kwanza Hall stepped in to explain:
“It was nine o’clock and they were punch drunk from an eight-hour meeting,” Hall said. “I think people would really prefer us to look at an adaptive re-use and making it the modern type of library based on examples all over the world.”
Hall said they will introduce a new resolution clarifying the council’s position.
Candler Park resident Lauren Welsh said Central Library has been undergoing “demolition by neglect,” and that downtown Atlanta needs more cheerleaders.
“I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt that it was after an eight-hour meeting and they weren’t 100 percent sure what they were voting on, but frankly that’s extremely frustrating as well,” Welsh said. “Because you should be educated on what you’re voting on before there’s a chance for them to lose something like this.”
Fulton County’s Decision
The Fulton County Commission will continue to discuss the fate of the library at its next meeting on July 20. It’s the only group that can make a final decision on the building. The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library board of trustees can only pass along recommendations to the Fulton County Commission.
In 2008, Fulton County voters approved a $275 million bond referendum that included plans for a new building. But since then, architects, historians and others have called on the county to preserve the building, which some consider an icon of modern architecture. It first opened in 1980.
Fulton County Commissioner Lee Morris said while he wants to honor the public’s 2008 vote, he’s torn.
“One of the problems in Atlanta is that we tend to tear down buildings pretty quickly and this is an iconic building,” Morris said. “Marcel Breuer was a world-renowned architect. And this was, by some standards and some experts, the pinnacle of his career.”
A public hearing was held June 14. Morris said public input will help the county decide whether to build a new facility or use the money to upgrade and renovate the existing building.
Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves has said public comments will continue to be welcome until a decision is made.
