View from the lower level of the Georgetown Neighborhood Library branch, currently under construction. The entrance pictured will lead to the children’s room, which will be located under a new reading terrace. Image courtesy DCPL.Renovations at the Georgetown Neighborhood Library branch are now underway, as We Love D.C. noted yesterday, so we checked in with folks at the D.C. Public Library to see how things are coming along.
DCPL spokesperson George Williams took pains to refer to the construction project, which began a few months ago, as “a renovation with historic elements.” The library branch was under renovation in April of 2007 when it suffered a devastating fire. Funding from the library’s capital construction budget has now finally allowed the project to move forward again, and DCPL hopes to have the branch reopened in the fall of 2010, Williams said.
You can check out design plans and schematics for the project here. Note that before the fire, the second floor included a room that contained the Peabody collection, but that room will now be moving up to an addition on an upper floor. That’s just one element of the library that will change, though much of the original building is being preserved. Another new feature includes plans for a reading terrace.