Originally published Saturday, March 4, 2000

By RACHEL JOY LARRIS
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

While Seattle debates the merits of form vs. function in building a new library, Magnolia beat them to it by 36 years.

The Magnolia library was designed in 1964 by architects Paul Hayden Kirk and Richard Haag, and it won top awards for design from the American Library Association.

Designed to blend into its surroundings, it is easy to miss driving by.

"The library is built like a home,"said head children's librarian Zane Goldmanis. "It was built differently from other libraries at the time."

Back in 1964, articles in the Queen Anne/Magnolia News breathlessly detailed community fund-raising efforts to reach a goal of $1,000 to buy art for the library when money was not budgeted for it in the original plan. They were able to raise $2,050.

From the sidewalk, a curving brick staircase leads up a path to the front door. The library uses high ceilings lined with wooden beams to give a cozy yet well-light feeling of space. Benches line the bookshelf cubbies to tuck people away. Even what seem to be ordinary tables are actually well-designed museum-quality pieces.

In the children's area, with a view of Mount Rainier visible on clear days through a window behind it, sits a statue of a young girl titled "Girl Holding Doves."Designed by Ebba Rapp McLauchlan, the piece is built of textured clay that invites interaction. Goldmanis recalls children placing books in the clay girl's lap.

Outside the building, but clearly visible from a window nook, hangs a bronze wall sculpture titled "Activity of Thought." An abstract, this piece of crisscrossing art was designed especially for the library by famed artist Glenn Alps.

The art has had a rough time, though. There was a break-in soon after the library opened. Tables, chairs and another McLauchlan piece, a pair of doves, were stolen. The artist eventually made another set of doves which were then bolted down.

"Activity of Thought,"was once stolen right off the wall, said head librarian Irene Haines. "We put out notices that we just wanted it back, that we wouldn't prosecute, and somebody dumped it in the bushes."

Like the neighborhood of Magnolia, its library, located at 2801 34th Ave. W., is full of subtle pleasures.