Douglass Truth Library architecture criticized by PI
I noticed the other morning in the Seattle PI an article by Lawrence Cheek talking about the Douglass Truth Library branch, and in particular, it’s new architecture after the rebuild.
It was an interesting article, and I agree with a number of his points. However, on his key point — that the new design just doesn’t work… principally because the historic Carnegie library structure was retained — I disagree.
Having watched this reconstruction from the day it started (the library closed for the renovation 2 days after we moved into our condo), it was an amazing thing to see the transformation. And he’s right, it is a little bit like the modern half of the facility stick out the east side of the historic building like a growth.
As I read it, he doesn’t seem to have any issues with the new addition, just with having retained the historic building. I think doing that would have been a loss to the neighborhood. The historic building is so grand compared to most of the other construction nearby. Having a mini-central-library (ie- all modern) at the site would have been “cool”, but I think it would have missed some of the point. This library is all about reconnecting the new with the old — a link to the past. Heck, that’s what I would have come up wtih for a “motto” for this particular branch. 
And, in any case, it looks great from both the outside and on the inside, so I consider it a great win. Seattle has some great libraries now, and the Douglass Truth branch is one of the best!
