| 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]
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple completed by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. The temple was closed in December 2019 for a general remodelling and seismic renovations, which were initially estimated to take approximately four years. Subsequent updates extended the estimated completion to 2026, for a total renovation timeline lasting an anticipated six or seven years.
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 moniker "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.
The Salt Lake Tabernacle, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, in the U.S. state of Utah. The Tabernacle was built from 1863 to 1875 to house meetings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was the location of the church's semi-annual general conference until the meeting was moved to the new and larger LDS Conference Center in 2000. Now a historic building on Temple Square, the Salt Lake Tabernacle is still used for overflow crowds during general conference. It is renowned for its remarkable acoustics and iconic pipe organ. The Tabernacle Choir has performed there for over 100 years.
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 2023, VPL had more than 4.6 million visits with patrons borrowing nearly 10.4 million items including: books, ebooks, CDs, DVDs, video games, newspapers and magazines. Across 21 locations and online, VPL serves over 236,000 active members and is the largest public library system in British Columbia.
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, a role it is expected reprise for the 2034 Winter Olympics.
The ZCMI Center Mall was a shopping mall in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, that operated from 1975 to 2007, before being demolished to make way for City Creek Center. The mall was developed and owned by Zions Securities Corporation, a for-profit entity owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The mall was located kitty-corner from the church's Temple Square.
City Creek Center (CCC), commonly shortened to City Creek, is a mixed-use development containing an upscale open-air shopping mall, grocery store, and office and residential buildings near Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Opened on March 22, 2012, the development encompasses over 23 acres (9.3 ha) across portions of three city blocks. The center's mall includes a foliage-lined walkway with a simulated stream, meant to recreate City Creek, an important water source for the early settlers of Salt Lake City.
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 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 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Salt Lake City Branch is one of four branches of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The branch opened in 1918 and is located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. As of 2024, the branch provides outreach, cash operations, police services, supervision, and credit for financial institutions in Utah, southern Idaho, eastern Nevada, eastern Oregon, and western Wyoming.
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.
The 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.
The Utah Theatre was a historic theater in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States. It opened in 1918 as the Pantages Theater, after the name of its owner, Alexander Pantages. The theatre was located at 148 South Main Street, Salt Lake City.
The ZCMI Cast Iron Front is a historic building façade, currently attached to City Creek Center facing Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The façade, built of cast iron and stamped sheet metal between 1876 and 1901, is a well-preserved example of a metal façade, and a reminder of the city's 19th-century commercial past. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The Pioneer Memorial Museum is a history museum operated by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The museum hosts a large collection of artifacts related to the Mormon pioneers and early Utah, along with libraries containing pioneer biographies and photographs.
40°45′35″N111°53′02″W / 40.7597°N 111.8839°W
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