By Abby Mendelson
The Library Center in Downtown Pittsburgh opens in May 1997, the highly anticipated
result of five years of planning between Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Point
Park College. Uniting the services of a public library system with those of a private
college library is a unique accomplishment in the world of libraries.Gladys
Maharam has been appointed interim director of the Library Center. She notes that
the library will develop in phases as it adds additional computers and services for
both college students and the general public.-Ed. �You�re a mess,
honey.�
�Marlene Dietrich to Orson Welles, A Touch of Evil
The grand, bronze-framed clock proudly faces the Wood Street entrance, a monument
of the Gilded Age, when Fourth Avenue was Pittsburgh�s Wall Street, and Pittsburgh
industry ran the world.
The marble Corinthian columns are firm and solid still, inside fabled architect
Frederick Osterling�s T-shaped Colonial Trust. The marble stairs are strong and sinuous,
and the facility is handicapped accessible without compromising the integrity of the
original design.
Across the wide expanse of the former bank lobby, torn plastic strips hang in shards
from the ceiling, and summer sunlight streams through the dirty skylight. Gone are
the 1970s restaurants, like Café Cappuccino, Bahama Mama, the Rusty Scupper and the
Board Room. Gone are the Bank Cinemas I & II, the rabbit�s warren of partitions
and drop ceilings, the gift shops and clothing stores, and a disco called The Library,
surely the world�s first shot �n� a book joint.
Gone, gone for a decade and more, is the Bank Center, that �70s tribute to Downtown
High Life.
It takes a little imagination, as it has taken lo these many years as the project
lay gestating, to get past the past, and past the present, the ruined 20th Century
of 12 Monkeys, to the 21st-century Library Center, a blend of Carnegie Library�s Downtown
and Business Information Center, and the Point Park College collection.
Off in the distance, a radio plays Jimi Hendrix�s version of �All Along the Watchtower,�
and the workmen�s buzzing saws keep time.
Architect Syl Damianos, in jacket and Dockers, his long black hair streaming out
the back of his hardhat, gestures broadly. �The initial concept was to preserve,�
he says, �but the most difficult thing is to introduce today�s comfort into a historic
building. In general, our solution is a combination of old and new. How do you handle
ornament�and sprinkler lines?� A trademark laugh. �If it were easy, anybody could
do it.�
Preservation does indeed war with contemporary statutes and style�and the important
ADA is just one part of it. Light and heat and air conditioning had to be brought
into the century-old building, and to spaces not designed for them in the original
plan, �without destroying the character,� Damianos says. His solution: a power trellis
which hugs the walls and holds light and system outlets.
In addition, because it combines
five different buildings, the new Library Center has 22 distinct levels. Damianos
found a way to provide wheelchair access to every level�some areas not much larger
than a postage stamp. �Every one,� Damianos says proudly. �It was a challenge, the
most challenging project I�ve ever done.�
He�s done plenty. Now part of Damianos + Anthony, Syl Damianos is the local library
design guru, having performed architectural services for more than three dozen area
libraries, including most of the Carnegie system. In a distinguished career that has
included a national presidency of the American Institute of Architects, he cut his
teeth on Pitt�s Hillman Library in 1966. Damianos� first battle: convincing the university,
whose stacks up to that time had been shoehorned vertically into the Cathedral of
Learning, to go horizontal with their collections. Pitt demurred; Damianos persisted
and won.
When Damianos says the Library Center is �unique,� it is a statement backed by
a broad knowledge of the field. Combining public and college collections, attracting
patrons, expanding programs, the $4 million re-use of a Downtown landmark �should
become a model for other libraries around the country,� he says emphatically.
With Damianos creating the concepts, and partner John Anthony making them work,
they proceeded. The original bank vaults�their enormous doors with locksets the size
of small nations�will remain, as offices, reading areas, conference rooms. The ubiquitous
plaster cornices have been retained, repaired, lovingly restored.
It wasn�t the same with the mechanical and electrical systems. First, they had
to separate the Library Center from the adjacent Bank Tower, an operative office building.
The old wiring�which looked as if it had been installed by Krazy Kat� had to be unraveled
so that the building could serve one master. �The lines ran all over the place,� Damianos
shakes his head. �It was a nightmare.�
In some ways, dealing with the building, or buildings, was like an old Bill Veeck
promotion�the late owner of the Cleveland Indians would give away a case of canned
goods�with all the labels removed. Yes, drawings of the buildings existed, but many
of them were out of date, so that Damianos and Anthony weren�t exactly sure what they
were dealing with. �We didn�t know what was here until we started taking things away,�
Damianos says. �You ought to try and draw it,� he shakes his head.
Stone, concrete, plaster, marble, faux marble�plus dangerous asbestos and lead-based
paint�they dealt with the proverbial mixed bag of materials, each requiring a different
treatment, to restore or rebuild. �I grew up as an ultra-contemporary designer,� Damianos
says. �But I�ve come to appreciate what preceded us. We can�t do it again, so you
want to re-use as much as possible.
�Saving buildings because they�re old is not enough,� he cautions. �Saving buildings
because they have importance to the community is a good reason. Because we�re convinced
that architecture contributes as much as anything, including books and computers.
Here, we wanted to create a wide open learning space with the resources for knowledge.
It�s a great combination.�
�To Oz? To Oz!�
�Ray Bolger to Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz
The meetings began in 1990, or �89, nobody much knows for sure anymore, and they�re
too exhausted to check. Let�s take this derelict building, combine the Downtown Carnegie
Library collections with those of Point Park College, and create a stronger Downtown
presence. Voila! The Library Center.
Not quite. Lack of money was one issue, as were the daunting prospects of combining
different collections, and philosophies, clienteles, purposes, visions and technologies.
It was a frustrating, time-consuming process that predates the arrival of Loretta
R. O�Brien, Carnegie Library deputy director, who stepped into the process five years
ago. �People have come and gone,� she sighs, �but we have moved forward.�
O�Brien speaks for many when she says the new 60,000-square-foot Library Center
will be a magnet. �When you can put something in Downtown that the community needs�and
information is a resource people need�in a manner that is attractive, timely and relevant,
it will be a draw. We�re very excited.
�It�s a grand building,� she adds, �a wonderful space that speaks to our rich history.
Into it we put the information of today�computers, resources, staff, and during the
first year of operation we’ll continue to grow to reach the vision of what we want
this facility to be. It�s a great resource, a good balance between past, present and
future. This is a library building that Andrew Carnegie would be proud of.�
Balances, and partnerships, is what the new Library Center embodies�with Point
Park College, with the business community, with the computer lab from the Greater
Pittsburgh Literacy Council, the Job Center, SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives),
SBA (Small Business Administration), and other groups, all of whom want to be linked
to this resource center, all offering services unique to the business�and general
�community. �It looks to be an extremely fruitful marriage,� O�Brien nods. �Point
Park President Jim Hunter was instrumental in working with Carnegie President Ellsworth
Brown and Library Director Bob Croneberger in moving the project along.�
Because their missions are so different, academic and public libraries deliver
services differently, at least until now. Public libraries are traditionally open,
accessible to all: books circulate, and librarians offer much help. Academic libraries,
on the other hand, are focused on the needs of students, faculty and staff. Students
and faculty want materials available on call, meaning large quantities on reserve,
and not circulating.
�Basically, the two service philosophies conflict,� O�Brien says. �So it was most
important, from the Carnegie Library perspective, to provide a seamless service to
our patrons as well as to Point Park faculty and students.�
As for developing a sense of customer service in the two groups, bringing the two
staffs together, �There was some soft shoe and tap dancing regarding those issues.
It was pretty interesting,� she laughs, and leaves it at that.
�What�s the interest for my family?�
�Marlon Brando to Al Lettieri, The Godfather
We think of libraries as staid and solid, and permanent, but the Downtown Branch
has had an itinerant life, never staying in one place too long. It�s been a long day�s
journey to its present�and, we can begin to assume, final�home.
The original Business Branch opened in 1924, in the City-County Building, lasting
six years until the city controller took the space. �City Hall was not an ideal location,�
former Library Director Ralph Munn wrote in 1970, �because of the many petty political
hangers-on who divided their days between standing in the corridors and resting in
the branch.�
The Business Branch moved to the Union Trust Building (now Two Mellon Bank Center),
then, in 1950, to Oakland, to be part of the Reference Department. Eighteen months
later it moved back to the business district, to the Frick Building, where it stayed
until �57, when it moved to Kaufmann�s annex. Later, the Business Branch went back
to the Frick Building, then in �85 to the lower levels of One Mellon Bank Center.
Now, it seems, the Business and Downtown branches are home at last. �It�ll be a nice
place to work,� says Pam Craychee, department head of the Downtown and Business Information
Center. �We�ve been buried underground for quite a while now.�
Although the library space quintuples, �this will not be a mini-main library,�
Craychee stresses. �Small business will continue to be a major focus. We�ll be able
to give the business community broader access to non-business material as well as
to Carnegie Library resources and the Internet.
�This is quite an extraordinary opportunity,� she continues. �These days, libraries
are coordinators�not merely collectors�of information. The advantages for Downtown
patrons include centralized, convenient, informational resources.�
Yes, Carnegie Library will bring 1,400 reference books, 150 journals, and indexes
of all types, but the really big news is the 100 computer terminals that will be installed,
with on-line databases, CD-ROM, e-mail, Internet and electronic services far beyond
what anyone could have imagined even five years ago. �The world has changed a great
deal since this facility was first considered,� she says.
Blending Carnegie Library�s 30,000 volumes, plus serials, bound periodicals, and
microfilm/microfiche archives, with Point Point�s 124,000-volume Helen-Jean Moore
Library has created an information juggernaut �but now with the world literally at
your fingertips via the Internet, the depth of the well is literally without measure.
General browsing won�t be overlooked, of course, with resources on popular fiction
to science fiction, pet care, gardening, home repair and so on. There will be industry
magazines, specialized indexes for stock market, finance, human resources, management,
small business development, job search, marketing and more. Like others, Craychee
has no clear view of how great the traffic will be, but she knows that her current
800 people/day is bound to become bigger, much bigger. Point Park alone will see to
that.
The refurbished 200-seat movie hall will permit the Library Center to expand its
free and public Noontime Series�Tuesday for general, architecture to archaeology,
health to history; and Thursday for business, estates and trusts, finance and small
business programs aimed at attorneys, accountants and auditors of all types.
Both Carnegie Library staff and Point Park staff are focused on teaching the public
how to use a library, especially the 21st- century version. The goal, through information
kiosks and gentle guidance, is to have the public begin to use the library independently,
the way students do.
While merging staffs, programs and collections has been �a major challenge,� Craychee
admits that after endless discussions they discovered that �libraries share many of
the same issues and concerns. We have a lot in common with Point Park. I see very
little conflict.�
�The future, Mr. Gitts.�
�John Huston to Jack Nicholson, Chinatown
When the Bank Center opened in 1977, potential customers could not get into the
Rusty Scupper�the dinner line stretched into the street�and The Library was the hottest
disco in town.
But things change, and downtowns always seem to need revitalization. The Forbes-Fifth
corridor has been moribund for more than a decade. But now there is the new library,
a promised Lazarus department store, and other possible developments. For drawing
people to an area, and spurring additional growth, �a library can have the same effect
as a department store,� offered Errol Frailey, president of the Pittsburgh Downtown
Partnership in 1996. �It makes Downtown a more interesting place.�
Sitting, as the Library Center does, on Wood Street, between Forbes and Fourth
avenues, it is two short blocks from FirstSide, the extended Monongahela River wharf
section, and the oldest part of Downtown. Due in no small degree to federal tax breaks,
FirstSide saw a spurt of revitalization through the early 1980s, but now the area
has been stalled for more than a decade.
Will the Library Center spur more development? Could it encourage long-sought housing
in the area, thickening the 3,000- odd count of Downtown residents?
Most pundits agree that while it is a strong amenity, the Library Center by itself
cannot kick-start Downtown, or start a FirstSide revival, or extend the Cultural District
past Fifth Avenue. But the Library Center will help. The buzz, the hum of activity
always draws. The Library Center�s free services, programs, computer sites, and extended
hours will create interest. �The creation of the Library Center is going to make Wood
Street a strong connector to FirstSide,� Frailey said. �The area will be blended more
into Downtown.�
Indeed, the Library Center�s very appearance, cleanliness and security will transform
a spot that for 10 years has been a dirty, chained-up eyesore. �A lot of great things
are happening,� Frailey said. �The first step is the Library Center, the most exciting
project to open in 1997. It has been anxiously awaited by the Downtown Partnership,
and we will do anything we can to make it successful.�
�Does it have a �wow� finish?�
�Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca
�This project has been our nemesis and our carrot for five years,� Pam Craychee
says. �All of us looked forward to doing this. Now, we want to see if the ideas we�ve
been thinking about will work. It�s been visionary and future for a long time now,�
she continues. �But now it�s practical�and immediate.�
Abby Mendelson is an award- winning writer whose most recent book is The
Pittsburgh Steelers: The Official History.
