Crown City’s Historic Jewel Dazzles Anew : Pasadena: The director took a unique path toward renovation of the central library and picked up a prestigious award for his efforts.
The traditional hush of Pasadena’s high-ceilinged downtown library was shattered recently by the popping of champagne corks and the chatter of wedding guests.
Ordinarily, librarians tread softly across the brown cork-tile floor in the Mediterranean-style building. On this evening, festively clad dancers moved to a beat played by musicians behind the burnished oak circulation desk.
The event was more than just a wedding reception for Pasadena City Director Chris Holden and his bride.
It was also the city’s chance to show off one of the Crown City’s newest jewels--the historically refurbished, yet high-tech, central library.
The seven-year renovation project, largely completed last year, involved hundreds of crafts workers, scores of preservationists, the library staff and the city’s long-established social elite.
When the project ended, Pasadena, a city well known for its historical buildings and its commitment to preservation, had garnered a prestigious award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The National Preservation Honor Award, given last month, is the second received by the city. The first was given in 1981 to Pasadena and USC for work on the Gamble House, a landmark home by the noted craftsmen/architects Charles Greene and Henry Greene. Pasadena now holds two of five national awards given out over the last 15 years to Southern California groups by the Washington-based trust, said Sherri Cunningham, a trust spokeswoman.
Library Director Edward M. Szynaka, who along with the city is the official recipient of the award, is widely credited with the successful completion of the project. As a sign of his commitment, he led 139 lunchtime fund-raising tours through the library.
Szynaka insists that “it couldn’t have been done without thousands of individuals.”
Claire Bogaard, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, the city’s preservation group that nominated Szynaka for the award, calls him a hero. “He knew the city had a masterpiece and he knew the city didn’t have the money to bring it all together,” Bogaard said of Szynaka’s work on the library, which was dedicated in 1927. “He brought all the groups in Pasadena together.”
The origin of the project dates back 10 years, when the newly hired Szynaka decided to revive long-abandoned library expansion plans. Roadblocks went up fast when the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission discovered that the plans would destroy the building’s imposing front patio with its fountain and three recessed doorways.
Frustrated, the library director steeped himself in the architectural and civic background of the library and made several discoveries that led him to the unique path the city would take toward renovation.
He discovered that library architect Myron Hunt had intentionally allowed enough space to expand the library stacks from two levels to four by adding interior stairs and balconies. This meant that expansion could be accomplished within a historical context without altering the building.
He also created the private Pasadena Public Library Foundation and enlisted the aid of Betty Keatinge, one of the city’s longtime community volunteers. Szynaka credits Keatinge with making the library project fashionable among the city’s elite and powerful.
Through the foundation, more than $2.4 million in private money was raised to revamp the library.
Creation of the private foundation also enabled Szynaka, as project manager, to sidestep the usual bureaucratic constraints such as relying on the lowest bidder and seeking layer after layer of approval. Instead, he was able to directly hire hundreds of skilled crafts workers.
Carpenters built oak tables and benches to duplicate the library’s original furnishings, a few of which remain in use. A blacksmith using European methods crafted decorative iron rosettes for tables in the library’s children’s room and fashioned iron grillwork for a new north entrance.
Modernizations from the 1960s, such as light-colored maple shelves and fluorescent Swedish-style lamps, were torn out. In their place went custom-made dark oak shelves--up to 18 inches deep to hold archival materials--and bronze lamps that replicated the original lighting fixtures.
The library’s auditorium was completely revamped. Hundreds of original 1920s-era chairs, salvaged from the Civic Auditorium and bearing Pasadena’s Crown City logo, were installed. A new north entrance off the parking lot was designed in the same style as Hunt’s original south entrance.
Noted historical preservation architect Raymond Girvigian, whose work includes the renovation of the Capitol in Sacramento, blended the old-fashioned look with the library’s high-tech computer equipment by recessing many of the terminals under glass plates beneath counters.
Girvigian also replaced the former harsh “supermarket style” lighting with soft background lighting.
The lighting is enhanced, at tables and work areas, with brass and parchment lamps, replicas of Hunt originals. Shelves are equipped with strings of low-voltage lights, a feature that could set a precedent for other libraries, Girvigian said.
The library is eager to raise money by renting out portions of the restored building. However, wedding receptions such as the Holden event will probably not be repeated, Szynaka said, because they require too much staff.
These days, when Szynaka compares the finished work to photos from the 1920s, he sees no difference. And he is satisfied.
“The biggest compliment you could give us,” he said, “is to ask, ‘What did you do?’ ”
