Richmond District Library
The Public Library Branch in the Inner Richmond, a neighborhood on the West Side of San Francisco was built in 1914. It was one of about 3500 libraries built in the U.S. and elsewhere funded by seed money from Andrew Carnegie's Trust. It was the first to be built in San Francisco and the only one by Bliss & Faville.
I really wasn't expecting much when I visited this site but was pleasantly surprised. The architects had set it on the top of a hill in the center of the property. It also has benefited from a 2009 renovation that included the accessibility ramps, and stair rails, 4000 additional square feet at the back of the property, and the inevitable (for this region) seismic retrofit.
At the same time the integrity of the original design was retained and they no doubt cleaned up the Colusa Sandstone cladding and the gorgeous polychrome terra cotta.
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