View from the entrance toward the Children’s Room, November 2019
After many years of advocacy and paying for stop-gap repairs by the Friends of the South End Library, the South End branch will close at the end of the day of Friday, October 25 for a big facelift, a so-called “refresh” of the interior space. The branch is expected to re-open sometime in February 2020.
The seating area near the entrance has been reupholstered and outlets for recharging electronic devices have been installed close to floor level of the banquette, November 2019
The upgrade will include new flooring, a fresh coat of paint, additional electrical outlets, a reconfiguration of space to accommodate varied seating arrangements; a small but separate space for teens with comfortable chairs underneath the stairs; colorful panels separating the teen/children’s space from the adult area; and new furnishings and upholstery. In addition, the upstairs community room will get a ceiling-mounted projector and a roll-down screen for visual presentations. The City of Boston allocated $132,000 for the upgrade in its budget a few years ago, and FOSEL raised $100,000 from South End library supporters privately, of which $50,000 will go for the furnishings and the projector/screen combination.
The South End library is also on track for a major renovation and expansion of the building, beginning with a Programming Study by the City’s Department of Public Facilities sometime in the next year. The current branch library, which serves a population of about 28,000 Southenders, measures 6,000 sq ft of which only some 3,000 sq ft is ‘usable’ space. The 2020 City Budget contains $100,000 for that study, which will assess the South End’s demographics and 21st-century library needs and determine what sort of a building can accommodate those services. Under the Walsh Administration, more than $127 million has been allocated in capital funds over the next five years to repair, renovate and replace pubic library buildings, including the South End branch. In recent years, the Jamaica Plain Library was renovated for about $12 million; the Dudley Library is in the middle of a $15 million project and the Adams Street branch will see a $19 million overhaul. The South End branch’s current “refresh” is limited in scope in light of the upcoming major expansion in about three to five years. The Programming Study will determine a budget, and will be preceded by a public meeting with city project managers and the architect assigned to the project.
The walls have been painted various shades of blue throughout the branch’s downstairs, November 2019
The South End library was built in the late 1960s and designed by the world-famous architectural firm of Mitchell-Giurgola, the runner-up for the prize of the competition to build Boston City Hall. Word has it that designing the South End library was a consolation prize for Mitchell/Giurgola, according to a presentation by a protege of Romaldo Giurgola, the Philadelphia architect, Dan Kelly. Kelly gave a presentation at the South End library in March 2019 about the architectural history of the branch, linked here. The budget for the 1960s project was $225,000, and likely limited the library’s options on the site at West Newton and Tremont Streets.
Library staff will be temporarily dispersed to other branched and the Central Library, but is expected to return to the South End library in early 2020 to prepare for the opening of a much-improved South End branch library in February 2020.