Rainier Beach Branch Highlights
The Rainier Beach Branch is a "third place" for many community members. It has collaborative workspaces for youth and adults. There is also a quiet reading area.
Inside the building, there is space for families to read together. Outside the building, pickup lockers provide 24/7 holds pick-up.
History
Serving Rainier Beach since 1912
The Seattle Public Library first opened a Rainier Beach deposit station at the Montera Pharmacy in 1912. Stations had small collections of books and were open for fewer hours than branches. They served 20th century Seattle during times of recession or immigration booms.
When a fire destroyed the pharmacy in 1917, the Library lost 453 books. A new deposit station opened at the Rainier Beach Dry Goods store a few years later, but it closed in 1924.
In 1928, the Rainier Beach Community Club, the Emerson School Parent Teachers Association, and the Rainier Beach Women's Club partnered with the Library. They opened a new deposit station in a storefront rented for $20 a month. The Rainier Beach Station was short lived. It opened on March 5, 1928, and closed in January 1932 during the Great Depression.
It would be thirty more years before the Rainier Beach community saw another library. In 1966, the neighborhood’s first branch opened in a rented store. In 1973, the branch moved half a mile to another leased spot, a former bank building.
In 1981, a federal grant funded construction of the Rainier Beach Branch at its current location. As part of the Library Renaissance Fund Initiative of 1984, workers upgraded the building in 1986.
In 1998, Seattle voters approved a Libraries for All building program. Their vote funded the Rainier Beach Branch’s 2004 expansion. Workers installed more power outlets to charge devices and upgraded branch technology. Building ventilation was improved and study areas were added.
After the voter-approved 2012 Library Levy, the Library made additional upgrades in 2015. The branch was reroofed, recarpeted and repainted. The interior layout was changed to create flexible-use meeting rooms and designate active and quiet areas.
Architecture
Flexible spaces for all ages
Additions to the building in 2004 include a children's area and three mixed-use meeting rooms. The brick rooms frame the building’s entry.
Tall ceilings in the main room take full advantage of natural light. Wood beams in the circulation area make the room warm and inviting.
The steep slope behind the branch is landscaped as a green space for the community.
Architects: Streeter & Associates Architects, 2004; Henningson Durham Richardson, 1981.
Art
Sculptures, glass and mixed-media art by multiple artists
Local artists Ray Jensen, Richard Beyer and Ariela Boronat created the building's art. The pieces span over a half-century of work from artists in the Rainier Beach community and city of Seattle.
Named Spaces
Spaces named for donors include:
- Friends of The Seattle Public Library Meeting Room
- D.V. and Ida McEachern Charitable Trust Children's Area