Old Brick Buildings

By Michael Goldman, co-founder with Deborah Marks of Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces

Email CSPGSinfo@yahoo.com to get our quarterly newsletter and information about Sunnyvale's moves on the Civic Center and other developments.

There seems to be some confusion about how durable brick is.  Someone said that they thought the current Sunnyvale Civic Center brick buildings (library, city hall, and public safety) were not built to last even 50 years.  Brick is actually very durable and there are buildings around the world going back many, many years.  The Civic Center buildings could last for generations as we show here.

Deborah Marks is also leader of Sunnyvale Urban Forests Advocates
http://www.sunnyvaleurbanforestadvocates.org/

Manhattan Townhouse, 1844:

Starting from recent and going back to older buildings, we start with this choice piece of NYC real estate from 1844, solid brick.

1844 Manhattan Townhouse - Click any photo to enlarge

Modern Bath

Opened up the Back

Worth Preserving

Renovated Kitchen

Over 8,400 sq.ft. for the low, low asking price of only $20M.  Currently listed for lease at $75,000 per month.  Property taxes $85,000/year.  Interesting how low property taxes are in Manhattan compared to Sunnyvale.

Ref:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/realestate/historic-greenwich-village-townhouse-for-32-
million.html?ref=realestate

Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University - 1720

This is the oldest building on campus.  It was originally built as a dormitory.  Currently, the lower 3 floors are used by senior administration and the 4th floor is a dormitory.

Massachusetts Hall, Harvard - 1720 - Click to Enlarge

During the British occupation of Boston during the Revolution, it housed soldiers.  When I was visiting Boston a tour guide pointed out the slits in the exposed wood ceiling beams where British soldiers stuck the bayonets attached to their muskets so that they were readily at hand.  The beams were treated with pitch from the start as a preservative and are still quite solid.

Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Hall_(Harvard_University)

Boston Buildings: 1711-1729

If you take a tour of Boston you will go through many old brick buildings.  Here are some that are over 300 years old and look as fresh as the day they were built.  In one old church I sat in the pew right behind the one that George Washington sat in after the Americans took Boston.

Old Corner Bookstore: Built in 1711 - Click on photo to enlarge

Old State House view one - 1713

Old State House view two - 1713

Old South Meeting House - 1729

Faneuil Hall - 1729 - Click to Enlarge

"The Great Hall" inside Faneuil Hall

Paul Revere House - 1680

Oldest Building in Boston

Holland:

Dutch City Hall in De Moriaan 1220

Amsterdam 1590

An Amsterdam house from 1590 still in use.

De Moriaan is currently a Visitors Information Center in Holland.  Built in 1220 as a City Hall - built to withstand siege if need be.

Oldest Wooden Building in Amsterdam 1420

 England:

Herstmonceux Castle 1441

"Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. From 1957 to 1988 its grounds were the home of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Today it is used by the Bader International Study Centre of Queen's University, Canada. ... The result is not a defensive structure, but a palatial residence in a self-consciously archaising castle style."

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herstmonceux_Castle

For the final English one, we have St. Martin's Church from the 6th century, incorporating Roman bricks from a long abandoned fort during Caesar's time.  The church has been in continuous use (including now) since 580.

St Martin's Church, Canterbury, England - 580 AD

Roman bricks in the chancel wall

Jetavanaramaya Stupa, Sri Lanka- 4th Century

One of the Earliest Surviving Intact Mud Brick Buildings

So, yes, brick buildings can last a while.

A 200,000 Sq. Ft. Library?

Introduction: Someone suggested Sunnyvale should have a 200,000 sq. ft. library.  That is big!

For comparison, the Santa Clara main library is 2-stories of 40,000 sq. ft. each = 80,000 square feet.  A 200,000 sq. ft. library would be a 5-story version of Santa Clara's.  When most people see a 144,500 sq. ft. library - the size of the proposed "2007 Library of the Future" - they respond "Oh, that's too big for Sunnyvale!".

See previous posts showing what the $108M 2007 bond issue proposal would look like here:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2015/10/library-of-future-143k-sf-buildings.html
and here:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2015/09/say-how-big-is-that-library.html

But 200,000 sq. ft. libraries do exist so let's see them.  (If the photos don't show when you click on them, try refreshing your web browser page - usually works for me.)

By Michael Goldman, co-founder with Deborah Marks of Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces

To sign up for quarterly newsletters and updates send your email address to: CSPGSinfo@yahoo.com  All addresses and names kept in strictest confidence - not released to any person, government agency, or organization.

Deborah Marks is also leader of Sunnyvale Urban Forests Advocates

http://www.SunnyvaleUrbanForestAdvocates.org/

St. Louis, Missouri

The St. Louis, Missouri Central Library was built in 1912 when St. Louis' population was about 700,000, the 4th largest in the US.  The city population peaked in 1950 at 857,000 and has since declined steadily to its current 317,000.  It is the center of a metropolitan area of 2.9M people.  The main library originally cost $1.5M of which $1M was donated by Andrew Carnegie.

Click to enlarge

 Recent renovation filled in the interior court and added a rear wing to bring it to 200,000 sq.ft.

Click any photo to enlarge

Click any photo to enlarge

The major renovation costs were shared by the city, state, federal government, and private donations.  Much of the motivation was to try to revitalize the downtown.

Tons more pictures on the web.
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/06/buildings/lbd/growing-room-st-louis-public-librarys-grand-central-renovation/#_
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis#Landmarks_and_monuments
Nice video on it's history here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjl885oEzXk

Kellogg Library - CSU San Marcos

San Marcos is a little inland from Carlsbad to the north of San Diego.  CSU San Marcos has just over 10,000 students - about 1/3rd the number at San Jose State.

"The five-story, 200,000-square-foot Kellogg Library cost $48 million and opened in Spring 2004. In addition to library collections, services and staff, the building houses academic computing offices, the Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents, the Student Computer Help Desk, the Faculty Center, the Learning Assistance Program, a Technology Resource Center, video recording studios and edit rooms, a 100-seat open computer lab, four 60-seat classrooms, one 80-seat classroom, the campus satellite copy center, and Starbuck's coffee shop."

from: https://www.csusm.edu/pdc/Projects_Completed/KellLib_Complete.html

Click any photo to enlarge

A large library on a college campus makes sense because college students need a place away from the crowded dorm room, or noisy apartment room-mates to study or do a group project with other students.  In a medium-sized city like Sunnyvale, the most common users of physical libraries are kids and middle and high school students.  They can't drive so neighborhood branches they can walk to make the most sense.  Adults are migrating to eBooks and eMedia very rapidly.  In some larger cities, the largest circulation "library" is the "virtual branch" with electronic books and media.

Partly funded by the Kellogg family of cereal fame.

http://news.csusm.edu/stories-behind-building-names
http://hope-amundson.com/projects/csu-san-marcos-kellogg-library/

Yonkers, NY Central Library

The new main library was opened in 2002, contains an area of 200,000 square feet and 4 stories. The project involved gutting, refacing and expanding by 40,000 square feet the original 160,000-square-foot, 77-year-old building, which Otis Elevator had occupied until 1983.  I could not find any interior photos of the library or the architect who designed it.  Very unusual.

Click on Any Photo to Enlarge

It replaced the Carnegie Library built in 1902.  Note the more appealing exterior design.  In which one?  Ah - good question.

Post Card of Old Carnegie Library - Click to Enlarge

Main Interior Room - Click to Enlarge

Photo from the 1950s - Click to Enlarge

There are few interior shots of the old Carnegie Library but it evidently had some nice murals and frescoes.  Anyone who has seen a preserved Carnegie Library (some places value their history - strange but true) knows they could be very appealing inside with nice detail and wood accents.

Yonkers old library photos from: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny1386/
and:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonkers_Public_Library

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/06/realestate/in-the-region-westchester-new-life-for-rundown-site-on-yonkers-waterfront.html

So that's what a 200,000 sq.ft. library looks like. Want one for Sunnyvale?

David and Goliath Libraries

By Michael Goldman, co-founder with Deborah Marks of Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces

Deborah Marks is also leader of Sunnyvale Urban Forests Advocates
http://www.sunnyvaleurbanforestadvocates.org/

There are over 1100 libraries in California.  Here's a Tale of Three Libraries.
If you're a fan of David vs. Goliath stories you'll love this one.

Click on Photo to Enlarge

Here's beautiful downtown Fresno, population 520,000 - three and a half times Sunnyvale's 149,000.

Fresno Skyline - Click on Photo to Enlarge

Their main downtown library (below) is 82,700 square feet with 267,000 volumes and a circulation of 330,000.

Fresno Main Library - 82,700 sq. ft.  - Click on Photo to Enlarge

The very attractive Woodward Park neighborhood library (pictured below) has 22,000 sq. ft. (about one fourth the size of their main) and only about 90,000 volumes (about one third as many as the main library) but circulation is nearly Double at 610,000(!) the circulation of the much larger main library.

Woodward Park 22,000 Sq. Ft. about 1/4th the Main's  - Click on Photo to Enlarge

90,000 Volumes, 1/3rd the Main's - Click on Photo to Enlarge

Circulation 610,000 - Nearly Double the Main's! - Click on Photo to Enlarge

Square feet is clearly not a big deal at least in terms of getting books into people's hands.

But wait - it gets better!  The "Fig Garden Library" below is in rented space in a strip mall.  It TOO has much larger circulation than the main library downtown.  Fig Garden Branch circulates 405,000 books vs the 8X larger main's 310,000!!

Can you find the 10,000 sq. ft. library here?  (And Where's Waldo?)

Happy Librarians with 123% the Circulation of the Big Main Library 

 10,000 sq. ft. Branch Beats 82,000 Sq. Ft. Main

Here's the library - in front of the Ace Hardware store.  No (expensive) underground parking needed.

This little 10,000 sq. ft. library - one eighth(!) the size of Fresno Main - with one fourth the number of books (63,000) - hidden away in a strip mall, between an Italian restaurant and an Ace Hardware store - circulates over 20% more books than the main library downtown.

Name	Size	Volumes	Circulation
Fresno Main Library	82,000 Sq. Ft.	267,000	330,000
Woodward Park	22,000 Sq. Ft.	90,000	610,000
Fig Garden Branch	10,000 Sq. Ft.	63,000	405,000

In terms of library usage, the narrative is NOT "Let's all get in the family van and go to the library".  It is "You're going to Ace Hardware?  Could you pick up Mary, she walked there to work on a science project with Jennifer.  And get a Dr. Seuss book for Timmy's story time."

There are many, many more examples like this I will cover in another post.

In terms of serving the community, size doesn't count!

Source for library info:

https://ca.countingopinions.com/index.php?page_id=3