The Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library last week won the 2019 Urban Catalyst Award from the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. (Photo by Sarah Mechling courtesy of Perkins Eastman DC)

jonetta rose barras: DC public libraries work to build community, encourage reading while winning awards

By jonetta rose barras On Apr 25, 2019 Last updated May 1, 2019

The room was awash with spring sunshine, bright and warm. While it was filled with people — including toddlers who, unintimidated by adults, dared to claim the space their own — it didn’t feel crowded. The ground-floor open lounge was marked by seating arranged for individuals or small groups facing a wall of windows looking onto Connecticut Avenue NW. For a person like myself, who admits to being slightly claustrophobic, that was its own reward.

I had been there twice before, once in late fall 2018 to attend an end-of-season gathering of the Newark Street Community Garden. Even then, however, the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, at 3310 Connecticut Ave. NW, possessed its own joyous energy with employees who enhance — rather than detract from — that mood.

My early arrival a few weeks ago for yet another Saturday garden meeting allowed me to enjoy the quiet nook just under the staircase. In that small space, I made a wonderful discovery: a hardcover copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt on sale for a mere $2; years ago, I misplaced my own copy and had been searching for a replacement. Operating on an honor system, the sales area is part of the work of the Friends of the Cleveland Park Library, a citizen group that offers support, sometimes arranging for outside experts to lead library programs and raising money to help augment services.

The pleasure of my literary find, the feel of the entire place and a rather interesting meeting sealed that Saturday as very good. (That’s right, I am that easy to please. You heard otherwise?)

When I read last week that the Cleveland Park and West End branch libraries were among several local institutions whose designs were lauded by the DC Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, I was not surprised. I chuckled, however, about the selection of the West End, located at 2310 L St. NW, with an interior design by Georgetown-based CORE architecture + design.

The West End’s success could be called Ward 2 DC Council member Jack Evans’ revenge. For years, there had been a fight, led mostly by Robin Diener as director of the DC Renaissance Project, over the public-private partnership that would result in a more modern library and replacement of an adjacent fire station, along with housing and retail construction. Despite the doomsayers, things have proved fantastic.

Richard Reyes-Gavilan, executive director of the DC Public Library, said he is “incredibly proud of the work of the teams that designed these libraries.

“These awards acknowledge the work of good design in creating spaces that support the idea that libraries can be places of transformation. These new libraries will please, serve and inspire their communities for decades to come,” added Reyes-Gavilan in the release announcing the architecture awards, which will be presented in a ceremony next month

Jill Bogard, president of the Cleveland Park Library friends group, said most people find the newly renovated facility “gorgeous” and that she personally has “found few things to criticize in the building,” the work of design/build team Gilbane and Perkins Eastman DC. Together those firms worked with Saxon Collaborative Construction under the library system’s Mentor-Protégé program.

Most people think of libraries as dull, oppressive places. DCPL has been blasting that antiquated image for more than a decade. Since 2009, library spokesperson George Williams said, the agency has “invested half of a billion dollars renovating and rebuilding buildings.”

Everything hasn’t always been perfect, however. I wrote last year about the saga of the leaky roof at the Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library. In other cases, the renovations were not sufficiently imaginative or innovative; residents were stuck with some improvements in the same cubed world. I don’t visit those places often.

The renovated Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, which opened in June 2018, features ample natural light from its expansive windows. (Photo by Scott Nover)

DCPL hit the proverbial home run with the Cleveland Park Library, where the reconstructed facility that opened in June bears no resemblance to its squat 1950s predecessor. “I go in and wander around on some days just to look at it,” said Bogard, who lives across the street from the library. “The children’s room is beautiful. There are always people sitting in those big mushy chairs. The adult reading room is airy. From the balconies you can open the glass doors and sit outside.”

The developers “wanted to use light brick [on the outside] to match the Uptown Theater,” explained Bogard. “They said they wanted it to be iconic, to make a statement without being brash. I think they achieved that.”

Actually, Cleveland Park residents and those in the West End could claim the title of associate designers. Bogard and her neighbors participated in six meetings that were always filled to capacity. She said Reyes-Gavilan and others “actually listened to what the community wanted.” It turns out they wanted all the things I found most delightful: natural light, comfortable furnishings, and lots of spaces for meetings big and small. “By the sixth meeting everybody was satisfied,” Bogard recalled.

She acknowledged, however, that the process was an ordeal. They had to figure out, for example, how to enhance the garden, making it a lush and inviting space year-round. The Friends persuaded three other groups in Cleveland Park and neighboring Woodley Park to help raise the funds to realize that dream. “It was the first time that all four groups have come together for the common good.”

There was also the challenge of how to preserve 10 carved glass panels donated by the Community Library Committee of the Connecticut Ave. Citizens Association back in the mid-20th century in memory of Catherine Cate Coblentz, a children’s book author and a secretary of the citizens association’s library committee. Coblentz and her husband led a community effort to purchase the land on which the original branch was built and the redesigned library still sits. The art was taken down prior to construction, and the panels are now back where they belong — a symbol of the dedication and determination of all involved, including developers, Reyes-Gavilan and his team, and particularly the Friends of the Cleveland Park Library.

“You have to take the long view of what kind of legacy you want to leave,” said Bogard. “What could be better than a library?”

jonetta rose barras is a DC-based freelance writer and host of The Barras Report television show. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.