New Rochelle Public Library

The story

A former parking garage became an award-winning library. When the New Rochelle Public Library opened on September 19, 1979, sixty percent of its structure was a refurbished parking garage — low ceilings and all. Architects Pomeroy, Lebduska Associates and Fred W. Lyon Associated Architects solved the ceiling problem by carving out a wide, central skylit area, flooding the 67,000-square-foot space with light. The design earned an Award of Excellence for Library Architecture from the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association in 1980. Chartered in 1894, the library anchors downtown New Rochelle as part of a neighborhood revitalization effort still felt today.