Designing History: Fitting Excelsior's New Library into City's Tapestry

Residents have made clear that preserving Excelsior’s historic charm must be a top priority as the city moves forward with plans to construct a new public library, and Hennepin County officials have taken notice.

County Commissioner Jan Callison was among those on hand last week at the  to talk with the Excelsior Library Committee and discuss how Excelsior can best develop a building that doesn’t blend so well into the historic district that it is unrecognizable as a modern building.

Enter the library project's new consultant, Stuart MacDonald.

MacDonald is a preservation specialist with decades of design experience, including in historic districts. He said his focus will be on the exterior design aspects of the new , which will be located on Water Street between Third and George streets. His goal, he said, is a building that will fit into what he called the "tapestry of Excelsior’s history."

“It has every chance of being more of a replica building than I would prefer,” he said. “It is hard to have a modern re-interpretation of a historic building that still fits within the district.”

 member Jennifer Caron agreed, saying the library should be more than a copy of a historic building.

“That would be mediocre,” she said.

MacDonald added that Excelsior’s historic district rules are some of the most specific he has seen compared to historic districts in other cities, and finding out the flexibility of the city’s specifications for historic buildings topped his list of discussion topics last week. MacDonald also asked for feedback on several building features, such as the roof, cornices, windows and brick size and color.

The committee, which included representatives from the city council, planning commission and heritage preservation commission, agreed that there is some flexibility in the rules.

MacDonald suggested the possibility of a new library that has the appearance of a two-story building, with windows near the top that would provide extra light for the interior. Committee members especially liked the idea, saying that it would give the library a prominent community presence.

At the mention of a Water Street entrance, discussion turned briefly to the importance of such an entry point. While MacDonald and Commissioner Callison noted the committee members’ sentiments, they mentioned that they still need to consider budget constraints, historic guidelines and square footage limitations.

Pointing out that Minnetonka Public Schools has purchased land for a parking lot in the same area as the library, at least one committee member said a Water Street entrance was "an accident waiting to happen."

Excelsior resident Rick Meyer reiterated the concerns and wondered if the library and the school parking lot could share a George Street entrance.

What’s next: Two more meetings will occur in February and April. In February, the committee will give feedback on four to six sketches of possible building designs. If plans move smoothly, the new Excelsior library could be open in 2014.