RSS FeedHistory on Foot: Mies van der Rohe
Did you know that the DC Public Library at 9th and G Streets was designed by world-renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe? It is actually the only public library ever designed by the architect, the only building he designed in this city, and the last building he designed before his death in 1969. It is one of a very small number of modern architecture designs in a city full of historic, traditional design.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library is the central facility for the DC public library, containing several special collections, including the library’s collection of Washingtonian historical records. In 2007, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which will help support the city in preserving van der Rohe’s original design.
Van der Rohe is considered a pioneering master of modern architecture. In addition to his iconic “skin and bones” building designs around the world, he is equally regarded and remembered for his design of the Barcelona Chair, a design that has transcended trends and time to remain a sought after look for home and office alike.
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I went to Architecture school in DC and don’t recall ever learning that Van der Rohe designed the MLK Library. I’ve always thought it was an interesting building, but I’ll definitely look at it differently now (and will stop and take a closer look next time I go by).
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library was originally designed with four floor. The original architectural model is located in the Washingtoniana Division, Room #307.
BTW, this is the reason why DC didn’t get a nice new library where the old convention center was. Instead, we have a “historic” central library that doubles as a homeless shelter.
This building is hideous and smells like urine. I’m sure the skate-boarders who tear it up all day and ALL night don’t give a rip who designed it.
@Bob – do you honestly think a new replacement library at City Center would not have also become a daytime homeless shelter?
I don’t think this Mies van der Rohe style architecture works very well with short squatty buildings. But the skyscrapers in Chicago that employ it do achieve a nice aesthetic…
In this instance the architecture has nothing to do with its use by the homeless; that probably has more to do with court orders limiting the government’s ability to prevent access to people there for uses that have nothing to do with the library.
The library has tried to deter the homeless – there no longer are Barcelona chairs (named after the Barcelona Pavilion that Mies designed where in the late 1920’s – I believe it was 1928, but am not certain – they were displayed. Unfortunately, they have not replaced the Barcelona chairs upstairs with either the original or a knock off, called the Pavilion chair.
A big drawback of this library is its interior design; the lower level has an unusually low ceiling and is depressing; the circulation within each floor is complicated, and they have hydralic elevators, which are incredibly slow.
Actually, I believe that van der Rohe’s firm designed it, not him personally, because he was sick. (He died in 1969, three years before the building was constructed). I agree with some of the others here that the building is ugly. And we’re stuck with it because some people want to preserve it. Well, they might as well preserve the hideous Metro HQ building on 5th Street too. It looks like a gulag.
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True or urban myth: The library was supposed to be taller, but the city ran out of money and shortened it by several stories? It does seem awfully short in comparison to Mies’s buildings in Chicago for example.