< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay >

Ballard Branch, The Seattle Public Library, opens on May 14, 2005.

HistoryLink.org Essay 7320 : Printer-Friendly Format

On May 14, 2005, the new Ballard Branch, The Seattle Public Library, opens at 5614 22nd Avenue NW.  The library’s sloping roof has 17 solar panels at its peak and is covered with low-water-use native grasses for insulation and to absorb and filter water.  This is the 15th branch opened as part of "Libraries For All," a $196.4 million bond issue passed by Seattle voters in 1998.

The town of Ballard was home to a community library almost from its founding in the 1860s.  Ballard’s first library building, designed by Henderson Ryan and built with funds donated by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, opened on Broadway (Market Street) in 1904.  In 1907 Seattle annexed Ballard and the library became the Ballard Branch of The Seattle Public Library. In 1963 the Ballard Branch moved into a new building at 5711 24th Avenue NW.  

The "Libraries For All" building, 15,000 square feet and designed by the architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, replaced the 1963 structure.  The new library building also includes a 3,100-square-foot Neighborhood Service Center. A Seattle Center/Community Center levy passed by Seattle voters in 1999 funded the service center.  A large covered patio area outside the entrances to the library and the service center was designed to serve as an informal community meeting place.

Ballard book lovers were spared the experience many other Seattle neighborhoods endured: that of trekking to another branch during the period their new branch was constructed or remodeled.  The 1963 building remained open until the new building was ready for the books to be transferred.

The Seattle Times quoted Seattle officials as describing the 10.9 million dollar building as “one of the most environmentally friendly public buildings in the Northwest” (May 15, 2005).  The branch was built from recycled materials with environmentally friendly adhesives, sealants, and paints, and it is partially solar-powered. Light enters the building through nine large skylights and many windows.  Frosted windows on the east side of the building diffuse the sunlight, giving the branch a misty, cloud-like feeling.  An installation of clear glass sea jellies undulate above the children’s area.  A view of the plant-covered roof and the Olympic Mountains beyond are available to patrons via a periscope.  Anemometers (wind sensors) on the roof collected data on area wind conditions.

The new building is more than twice the size of the old and includes a larger children’s area, an area for teenagers, a community meeting room, much more computer space, an expanded collection, and an underground parking lot.  In 2004 the Ballard Branch circulated 683,300 books and materials, more than any other branch of The Seattle Public Library.

Sources:
Tan Vinh, “Ballard Celebrates Its New Library; $10.9 Million Facility; ‘Green’ Roof, Recycled Materials,” The Seattle Times, May 14, 2005; Mark Higgins, “Library, Park Give Ballard A Vision City And Private Money Focus North of Market Street,” Ibid., December 19, 2000; “What’s New, Green And Read All Over?” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 14, 2005; HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, “Ballard Branch, The Seattle Public Library” (by David Wilma), (http://www.historylink.org/ (accessed May 17, 2005); personal observations by the author, May 20, 2005.

By Paula Becker, May 23, 2005

Travel through time (chronological order):
< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay >

Special Suite: The Seattle Public Library |

Related Topics: Buildings | Education | Seattle Neighborhoods |

Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.

Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You