Seven SFPL Carnegie Branches Set
for Landmark Designation
The San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board plans to give landmark status to seven Carnegie-era public library branches, the San Francisco Chronicle reported May 8. The branches—Chinatown, Richmond, Noe Valley, Sunset, Presidio, Golden Gate Valley, and Mission—were built with half of a $750,000 grant from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie; the other half went toward the old Main Library building, which is now being converted into the Asian Art Museum.
“These buildings are all magnificent examples of what was then an entirely new form of architecture, the branch library,” said landmark board President Tim Kelley. “I think they are all landmarks by anyone’s definition.”
However, the Chronicle reported that the Library Commission has voiced fears that granting the branches landmark status could hinder a plan approved by voters last November to renovate 19 branches. “I like the idea of preserving these lovely public buildings,” Commissioner Steve Coulter told the newspaper. “But you add yet another agency in these buildings, and I wonder what problems you get into.”
Posted May 14, 2001.
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