Pasadena Library Project Wins National Award

The city of Pasadena and its $2.4-million downtown library restoration project were among 15 national preservation award winners honored Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation at its conference in Charleston, S.C.

Renovation of the 1925 Pasadena Central Library on East Walnut Street was a joint project of the city and the Pasadena Library Foundation. Library Director Edward Szynaka oversaw the four-year effort that restored the library’s Mediterranean Revival style and added computers and a concealed electronic security system.

Other projects cited by the trust included preservation of the Mt. Pleasant, S.C., home of Charles Pinckney, one of the drafters of the U.S. Constitution; rehabilitation of the Regent Terrace housing project in Philadelphia; revitalization of Boston’s Roslindale Village, and preservation of the Rockefeller Center in New York.