“This is the largest gift in the library’s history,” William R. Sasso, chairman of the library foundation’s board of directors, said in the April 18 Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. The city must match the donation within one year, according to the terms of the gift.
The expansion project, expected to begin in late 2008, will result in 180,000 additional square feet in an annex to the library’s signature 1927 Beaux Arts building. Designed by Canadian architect Moshe Safdie, the annex will house a teen center, an internet center, extensive public meeting space, an auditorium, an atrium with retail stores, and more space for the library’s overflowing collections.
Posted April 20, 2007.