| Salt Lake City Public Library | |
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| Location | Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Established | 1964 |
| Other information | |
| Website | services |
The Salt Lake City Public Library system's main branch building is an architecturally unique structure in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is located at 210 East, 400 South, across from the Salt Lake City and County Building and Washington Square.
The Salt Lake City Public Library was originally housed in the Salt Lake City and County Building in 1898. Thanks to a donation of land and money by a John Quackenbos Packard in 1900, a new library was built in downtown Salt Lake City; the building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [1] This building remained in use until the library outgrew it by the early 1960s. The city library was then moved to a new home across from the City and County Building at the intersection of 500 South and 200 East. [2] The groundbreaking ceremony was held on December 28, 1962, and the building was dedicated on October 30, 1964. [3] In 1965, the old library was renovated into the Hansen Planetarium, funded by a donation of $400,000 from Beatrice M. Hansen. [1] [2]
On March 7, 1994, a gunman took several hostages in a conference room on the second floor of the old main branch building. The library was evacuated and SWAT teams were called in during a six-hour siege, which ended in the death of the gunman and the freeing of the hostages.
After celebrating the library's 100th anniversary in early 1998, an $84 million library bond was approved to relocate the library in a new building, north half a block, to its current location. The firm Moshe Safdie and Associates partnered with a local architecture firm, VCBO Architecture, to design the building, which opened to the public on February 8, 2003. [4] The former building in Library Square houses The Leonardo, a museum of science, technology and creativity.
On September 15, 2006, a small bomb exploded in the third floor of the main building. No one was hurt, and the damage sustained by the building was a broken window. Eastbound traffic on the streets of 400 South and 200 East was closed as 400 people were forced to evacuate. [5]
There have been several public suicides at the library since its relocation. In April 2008, a woman jumped from the third floor balcony inside the library and died. [6]
In July 2005, a woman jumped from the roof of the building to her death. In March 2011, a woman jumped from the fourth floor inside the building and died. In April 2012, a man jumped from the balcony inside the library to his death. [7]
On June 10, 2013, at approximately 4pm, a 21-year-old man jumped to his death from the roof, prompting the closure of the library for the remainder of the day. [8]
On November 13, 2013, at approximately 4:15pm, a 21-year-old man was witnessed jumping from the roof of the building. The man survived the fall and was taken to LDS Hospital for his injuries. The event prompted the closure of the library for the remainder of the day. [9]
The Salt Lake City main library covers an area of 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2) in a five-story tall, wedge-shaped building. [10] The structure includes 44,960 cubic yards (34,370 m3) of concrete, and 176,368 square feet (16,385.1 m2) of glass, including a five-story curved glass outer wall. The Vancouver Public Library, also designed by Safdie, shares a similar design—most clearly apparent in the main foyer and the sweeping outer facade. [11]
The building is housed within Library Square, a landscaped and paved plaza that encompasses the city block. Much of what is now landscaped, open space had been planned to be covered by outbuildings, but Rocky Anderson, Salt Lake City's mayor at the time of the library's opening, asked for these to be left out in favor of creating a public park. [12] [13] A later initiative to create a new headquarters for the Salt Lake City Police Department was also struck down and the building was subsequently placed a block east, directly across from library square. [14] The square is also occupied by shops, a community writing center run by Salt Lake Community College, [15] studios of radio station KUUB and, most notably, The Leonardo Museum, which is housed in the library's former building. The Square itself is paved with limestone from Israel.
The entrance to the building's interior leads to the "Urban Room", a foyer that contains more shops and extends upward for all five floors, ending with a 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2) skylight.
The building is topped by a garden on the roof planted with trees, grasses, flowering bulbs and various perennial plants, as well as tended beehives. [16] In addition, there is a community garden outside of the library's ground floor and a "seed library" from which any patrons can receive seeds for their own gardening. [17]
In 2006, the library received Library Journal's "Library of the Year" award, largely based on the significance of the building. [18] [19]
Other notable features of the building include:
The library's collection comprises over 500,000 books, subscriptions to over 60 newspapers and magazines, an expansive digital library with a variety of resources, 163 internet-capable computers.
A notable item in the collection is a 19th century edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America , which was purchased by the library in 1903. The copy is not an original print, rather, it is from a later run commissioned by Audubon's son John in the 1850s. Unlike the first run, the copy's illustrations are not hand-colored, but they are an early example of the then-revolutionary process of chromolithography. [20]
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which had a population of 1,257,936 at the 2020 census. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,746,164, making it the 22nd largest in the nation. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, it is the 117th most populous city in the United States. It is also the central core and the larger of only two major urban areas located within the Great Basin.
Temple Square is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately adjacent to Temple Square. Contained within Temple Square are the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Salt Lake Assembly Hall, the Seagull Monument, and two visitors' centers. The square was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1964, recognizing the Mormon achievement in the settlement of Utah.
The Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center, more commonly known as the Salt Palace, is a convention center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Named after Utah's 11th governor, Calvin L. Rampton, the name "Salt Palace" was previously used by two other venues in the city.
Salt Lake City, Utah has many historic and notable sites within its immediate borders. Although the entire Salt Lake City metropolitan area is often referred to as "Salt Lake City", this article is concerned only with the buildings and sites within the official city limits of Salt Lake City.
The Conference Center, in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the premier meeting hall for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Completed in 2000, the 21,000-seat Conference Center replaced the traditional use of the nearby Salt Lake Tabernacle, built in 1868, for the church's biannual general conference and other major gatherings, devotionals, and events. It is believed to be the largest theater-style auditorium ever built.
Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is a public community college in Salt Lake County, Utah. It is the state's largest two-year college with the most diverse student body. It serves more than 60,000 students on 10 campuses as well as through online classes. The college has a student to faculty ratio of 20:1. Since SLCC is a community college, it focuses on providing associate degrees that students can transfer to any other four-year university in the state to satisfy their first two years of requirements for a bachelor's degree. SLCC has open enrollment and serves the local community, with approximately 95% of the student body considered Utah residents.
The Church Office Building is a 28-story building in Salt Lake City, Utah, which houses the administrative support staff for the lay ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world.
Vancouver Public Library (VPL) is the public library system for the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2013, VPL had more than 6.9 million visits with patrons borrowing nearly 9.5 million items including: books, ebooks, CDs, DVDs, video games, newspapers and magazines. Across 22 locations and online, VPL serves nearly 428,000 active members and is the third-largest public library system in Canada.
The Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple is the 25th constructed and 23rd operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is located in the middle of Tonga's main island Tongatapu near Matangiake. The area where the temple is located is commonly known as Liahona, after the name of the church-owned high school there. The temple is several miles south of its namesake city, the capital Nukuʻalofa.
The Utah Olympic Oval is an indoor speed skating oval located 14 miles (23 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, in Kearns, Utah. The Oval was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics and it hosted the long track speed skating events for the 2002 games. Inside the facility the 400 meter skating track surrounds two international sized ice sheets, and is itself surrounded by a 442-meter running track. Due to its high altitude, 4,675 feet (1,425 m), and the associated low air resistance, ten Olympic records and nine world records were set at the Oval during the 2002 games, the largest number of world records ever set at one event.
The Draper Utah Temple is the 129th temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was dedicated in sessions from March 20–22, 2009. Prior to the dedication, the temple was open to the public from January 15, 2009 through March 14, 2009.
The City Creek Center (CCC) is a mixed-use development with an upscale open-air shopping center, office and residential buildings, fountain, and simulated creek near Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is an undertaking by Property Reserve, Inc. (PRI), the commercial real estate division of the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Taubman Centers, Inc. (TCI). The CCC integrates shopping and residential elements, with foliage-lined walkways and streams covering two blocks in the heart of downtown Salt Lake. PRI invested in the housing and parking elements of the mall, while TCI owns and operates the shopping center itself. The CCC opened to the general public on March 22, 2012. This shopping, office, and residential center encompass nearly 20 acres (8.1 ha) of downtown Salt Lake City. The City Creek Center is part of an estimated $5 billion sustainable design project to revitalize downtown Salt Lake City. The CCC project itself has been estimated to cost around $1.5 billion.
The Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center (HFAC) was previously the main location for Brigham Young University's (BYU) College of Fine Arts and Communications (CFAC). In early 2023, the building was demolished to make way for a new arts building on the same site.
The Church History Library (CHL) is a research center and archives building housing materials chronicling the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The library is owned by the Church and opened in 2009 in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
222 Main a high-rise office building in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, that was Utah’s first LEED Gold-certified high-rise.
The Old Hansen Planetarium is a three-story building built in 1904 and located at 15 South State Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. It has served many functions throughout its history. Originally built in 1904 as the Salt Lake City Public Library, the building was renovated in 1965 to become the Hansen Planetarium. After the planetarium closed and was replaced by the Clark Planetarium in 2003, the building was remodeled into the O.C. Tanner Company Flagship jewelry store, which opened in 2009. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were held in and around Salt Lake City, United States from February 8 to 24, 2002, and the Paralympics from March 7 to 16, 2002. The sporting events were held in ten competitive venues, while non-competitive events, such as the opening ceremony, were held in six other venues. Three venues were also created for training purposes. All Olympic venues were scattered throughout Northern Utah and the Wasatch Front.
Minneapolis Central Library is a public library located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the largest library in the Hennepin County Library system. It bills itself as having "the third largest per capita public library collection of any major city in America with a collection of more than 2.4 million items—including books, DVDs, music, government documents." The 353,000-square-foot (32,800 m2) building at 300 Nicollet Mall with two levels of underground parking was designed by César Pelli and opened on May 20, 2006. It has over 300 computers for use by the public, an 8,140-square-foot (756 m2) atrium, an 18,560-square-foot (1,724 m2) green roof planted with low-growing ground cover designed to "be sun- and drought-resistant", and a host of energy-efficiency measures.
Altair is a residential and commercial development under construction in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The building has a 68 floor vertical tower and 63 floor leaning or sloping tower. At 240.0 m (787 ft), the building will be one of the tallest buildings in Colombo when it is completed. The building is situated on the banks of the Beira Lake on a 2-acre plot of land leased by the Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka to the Developer Indocean Developers. Development was halted for five years, and then restarted in 2020. The first phase of the building opened in March 2021.
Zions Bank Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Herriman, Utah, United States, with a seating capacity of 5,000. The stadium is home to Real Monarchs, a MLS Next Pro team affiliated with Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer; the Utah Warriors, a Major League Rugby team; and the Salt Lake Shred, an Ultimate Frisbee Association team. The stadium is part of the $78 million Zions Bank Real Academy, which includes the academy and training facilities for Real Salt Lake, and is near the Mountain View Corridor. In May 2017, Real Salt Lake and Zions Bank announced a sponsorship deal that would give the bank naming rights to the stadium. It was originally scheduled to open on March 31, 2018, but moved back to April after construction delays.
40°45′35″N111°53′02″W / 40.7597°N 111.8839°W
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