Georgetown (DC) Library

Looking to the SE corner from the entrance, Peabody Room, Georgetown Public Library, DC. Photos courtesy of Jerry McCoy.

I hadn't written about the fire in Georgetown because I didn't have a chance to get up there. While it's good to know that there isn't a serial arsonist out there--apparently there was an electrical short at Eastern Market and construction workers screwed up at the Library (meaning that it is likely that the contractor will be financially responsible for the rebuilding!)--it's tragic to consider the losses that the city has suffered.

Jerry McCoy of the Georgetown Library (and he also works at the Washingtoniana Collection at the MLK Central Library) writes:

I searched your blog for your thoughts on the(partial) destruction of the library (designed 1935 byNathan C. Wyeth) but couldn't find any. My biggest fear right now is while the exterior will probably be reconstructed to the way it looked, asr equired due to its location in a historic district, the interior will not.

Massive amounts of decorative interior wood trim like the entire fireplace and partial archway in the Children's Room were completely destroyed. What few remaining pieces of original 1935 library furniture, located in the Peabody Room, were damaged by water, likely totally destroyed. I doubt very much if ANY of this will be replaced/restored.

This, I feel, will be the saddest part...of having the Georgetown Branch Library's original interior "patina" forever gone.
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Depending on the will of residents in Georgetown, which Harry Jaffe seems to think is much greater than that of Capitol Hill, see "Tale of two fires"--Capitol Hill is collecting and offering funds through through the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, and rallied financial support from the Federal Government (in my previous blog entry I forgot to mention that Delegate Norton and Congressman Oberstar spoke at the stakeholders meeting, stating that they would work to get federal funds for the restoration of Eastern Market--and I happened to see Delegate Norton shopping at Eastern Market incognito yesterday)--maybe they can work to bring about a proper restoration of the interior.

Speaking of Ginnie Cooper, the director of the DC Public Library System, and one of her previous jobs--as the director of the Multnomah County Library System in Portland--with the renovation of the Central Library in Portland, there wasn't enough money to restore the interior and furniture to people's liking, so residents raised millions of dollars to fill the gap, to create the kind of library they wanted.

It's time for Georgetown to represent as well.

(More photos available at the H-DC website.)

Pre-fire interior of the Peabody Room, Georgetown Public Library, DC


Over 200 boxes of wet Peabody Room materials, waiting to be shipped to a Texas-based conservation laboratory


What remains of the Children's Room, 30 ft. away from the Peabody Room, Peabody Library, Georgetown DC