The John M. Mer­lo Branch Library was con­struct­ed in 1942 and designed by City Archi­tect Paul Ger­hardt. As a min­i­mal­ist neigh­bor­hood build­ing, the library is dis­tin­guished by its rib­bon win­dows, beige brick, and a lime­stone sculp­tur­al frieze by Abbot Pat­ti­son. In 1988 a ren­o­va­tion by Gertrude Lempp Ker­bis enhanced the street pres­ence and added a solar­i­um to the façade.

By 2019, the Chica­go Pub­lic Library was look­ing to ren­o­vate the build­ing while pay­ing homage to the orig­i­nal design. This work includ­ed exte­ri­or improve­ments to enhance equi­table access and ener­gy effi­cien­cy. Inte­ri­or work focused on cre­at­ing a con­ducive space to house the library’s 21^st cen­tu­ry pro­gram; a part­ner­ship between tra­di­tion­al curat­ed col­lec­tions of lit­er­a­ture and dig­i­tal resources. 

The result is an acupunc­tur­al edit that restores the orig­i­nal art deco detail­ing. Inte­ri­or mod­i­fi­ca­tions pri­or­i­tized day­light and stream­lined cir­cu­la­tion with­in the small build­ing foot­print while max­i­miz­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty and adapt­abil­i­ty into the future. 

Client: Pub­lic Build­ing Com­mis­sion of Chicago/​Chica­go Pub­lic Library
Pro­gram: Mod­ern­iza­tion of exist­ing library build­ing
Size: 15,000 sqft ren­o­va­tion
Cost: $4,100,000

Col­lab­o­ra­tive Part­ners:
dbHMS (Mechan­i­cal, Elec­tri­cal, Plumb­ing, and Fire Pro­tec­tion Engi­neer)
Good­friend Magrud­er (Struc­tur­al Engi­neer)
Infra­struc­ture Engi­neer­ing Incor­po­rat­ed (Civ­il Engi­neer)
The George Sol­litt Con­struc­tion Com­pa­ny (Gen­er­al Contractor) 

Pho­tog­ra­phy Cred­it: © Kendall McCaugh­er­ty, Hall+Merrick