The Atlanta-Fulton County library system will hold a public meeting Tuesday on proposed changes to the city’s Central Library. It’ll share the results of a recent survey about the building’s fate.
At one point, the blocky, stone library, a famous example of Brutalist architecture, was considered for demolition.
Now, one of the main sticking points for preservation is the addition of windows to the building’s facade.
“Changing the building is better than demolishing it,” said Mark McDonald, president of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
“But the key question for us is: ‘Do they actually advance the cause of making the building more relevant and usable?’”
Supporters of the changes argue they do just that: make the building more useful to the public and more flexible, as the role of libraries in public life changes.
McDonald says he’s cautious about any alterations to the building’s notable exterior, but acknowledges sometimes adapting a building works.
“A building has to work in order to remain relevant and for it to be preserved because it has to have an economic income stream in order to keep it maintained properly,” he said.
Atlanta’s Ponce City Market brought new life into a Sears, Roebuck and Co. building built in 1926. Creation of the mixed-use development in the space involved large-scale renovations.
But McDonald also says there are some cautionary tales.
In the 1980s, Emory University let world-renowned Atlanta architect John Portman design a new, modern addition to the Alumni Memorial University Center, a 1920s marble building on campus. That addition was demolished last year.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Central Library auditorium.
