Library – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Words Fly Away

Posted by Cindy on March 8, 2019

Mar 082019

Ocean View Branch Library
345 Randolph Street

Words Fly Away by John Wehrle – 2003/2004

This is a fabulous piece for a library. John Wehrle imagined the library interior as a metaphor for a book. He covered the library in jumbled letters, words and pictures.

According to the artist’s website: Created in 2004, Worlds Fly Away is a complete installation – floor to ceiling, using a variety of materials to create a theater of effects permeating the stairwell and second-floor hallway of the Ocean View Branch Library in San Francisco. Color, image, and language are the elements that transform the library interior into an allegorical experience akin to being inside of a book. It is a bit of a perceptual puzzle. The flying and falling letters, stretched to the limits of comprehension, can be assembled (with some effort) into words, sentences and ultimately meaning. The textual intarsia of the hallway required over a thousand pieces of linoleum to create letters and shadows spelling out the line from the idiomatic folk tale, “ The sky is falling. A piece of it hit me on the head. Other literary quotes are embedded in the tile faience, and, in several languages, on the ground floor of the library.

Here is a video of the piece

Born in San Antonio Texas, Pratt is a graduate of the Pratt Institute. He moved to California and became a teacher at the California Academy of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

In 1973 he broke out on his own, he presently lives and works in Richmond, California.

The project was commissioned by the SF Arts Commission for $112,000.

Beneath the trees there is a saying. “and where is the use of a book: thought Alice, without pictures or conversation”

Art at Bernal Heights Branch Library

Posted by Cindy on March 5, 2019

Mar 052019

Bernal Branch Library
500 Cortland Avenue

Reuben Rude of Precita Eyes Murals was chosen for this project. It was a difficult decision, as it replaced a mural that had been on the walls of the library for years. A recent renovation required the removal of the old mural which the current mural attempting to pay homage to some of its elements.

This mural with its bronze book and tile embellisment was paid for by the San Francisco Arts Commission at a cost of $115,000.

Reuben Rude grew up in the woods of Northern California and studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He utilizes his expertise in drawing, painting, and illustration in both the creative and commercial realms. He has shown in galleries, comic books, and magazines throughout the world.

WPA Map of San Francisco Part 3 – Golden Gate Valley, Marina and Presidio Branch Libraries

Posted by Cindy on February 8, 2019

Feb 082019

Golden Gate Valley Branch Library
Marina Branch Library
Presidio Branch Library

This is installment three of the pieces of the WPA map that are being displayed as part of the joint program, Take Part, between SFMOMA and the San Francisco Library. You can read the first two installments here.

I apologize for the poor quality of the photographs. Most every model is under plexiglass and reflects not only the lighting from above but the light streaming in through the windows.

Golden Gate Valley Branch Library

Lafayette Park as seen in the Golden Gate Valley Branch

The question in viewing this image of Lafayette Park is how the apartment building, that is shown near the Gough sign ever got built in a public park.

I went to the website Hoodline to find out. According to them:

“The building is a remnant of a pitched 19th-century legal dispute between the City of San Francisco and a former city attorney, Samuel W. Holladay.

Through an act of Congress, the property that eventually became Lafayette Park was conveyed to the city in 1864 by the U.S. Government, but there was a question as to whether the land had been officially designated as a park by the city. Holliday claimed he owned what is now the eastern half of the park and the city claimed it was in public ownership under a city ordinance. Despite the conflict, Holladay constructed a mansion in 1866 at the top of the hill and called it “Holladay Heights.” “The article goes on and you can read it here, and please do, it will tell you about the first astronomical observatory on the West Coast that was once in Lafayette Park.

The Golden Gate Library Branch existed when the map was built and is shown with the red flag.

The Golden Gate Valley Branch Library property was purchased by the City for $7,500. The brick and terra cotta Beaux-Arts structure was designed in the shape of a basilica by local architect Ernest Coxhead. Though Carnegie grant funds paid for the building, City funds were used for the furnishings. The total cost of the building and furnishings came to $43,000. The library branch opened on May 5, 1918.

Marina Branch Library

Fort Mason and the Aquatic Park Pier as seen in the Marina Branch Library

The buildings in the center at the foot of Columbus are The Cannery.

The two long brown buildings in the square that is two over from the left and two up from the bottom are The Southern Pacific Automobile Station.

Presidio Branch Library

The portion of the WPA map that is in the Presidio Library showing the Presidio and its environs

The Presidio Library is marked with the red flag on the WPA map at the Presidio Library Branch

The Presidio Branch Library was established in 1898 and was the sixth branch of the SFPL system. The current building, designed by G. Albert Lansburg was completed in 1921. The building is Italian-Renaissance in style and was built with $83,228 in Carnegie funds.

The Presidio Branch Library – date unknown. Courtesy of the SFPL Photographic collection

I hope you will continue to check back with us as I intend to visit every one of the branch libraries before the exhibit closes on March 25th.

WPA Map of San Francisco – Part 2 – SFMOMA, Mission, Noe Valley and Eureka Valley Branch Libraries

Posted by Cindy on February 5, 2019

Feb 052019

SFMOMA
Mission Branch Library
Noe Valley Library
Eureka Valley Library

This is the second post in a series covering the joint SF Library system and SFMOMA project Take Part showing the map of San Francisco built by the WPA. Click here for Part 1

SFMOMA

The old Transbay terminal as shown on the map at SFMOMA

The hub of the San Francisco commuter bus and Greyhound system was the old Transbay Terminal. It is shown on the WPA map of San Francisco.

San Francisco’s former Transbay Terminal was built in 1939 at First and Mission Streets as the terminal for East Bay trains using the newly opened Bay Bridge. The Terminal was financed and operated as part of the Bay Bridge and was paid for by Bay Bridge tolls (which were then 50 cents per automobile, or about $7.75 today). At the time, trucks and trains (primarily the Key System) used the lower deck of the Bay Bridge, and automobiles operated in both directions on the upper deck.

Ten car trains arrived every 63.5 seconds. In its heyday at the end of World War II, the terminal’s rail system served 26 million passengers annually. After the war ended and gas rationing was eliminated, the Terminal’s use began to steadily decline to a rate of four to five million people traveling by rail per year. In 1958, the lower deck of the Bay Bridge was converted to automobile traffic only, the Key System was dismantled and by 1959 the Transbay Terminal was converted into a bus-only facility.

A new bus terminal, complete with Public Art has been built. However, due to complications, it was closed soon after its grand opening, and as of this writing (February 5, 2019), it has not yet reopened.

Potrero Hill Branch Library

San Francisco General Hospital as portrayed on the map in the Potrero Hill Library

While a hospital sat on this property for years, in 1915 the “New San Francisco General Hospital”, which was a landscaped, red brick, Italian Renaissance style complex, was dedicated during the City’s celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal, at that time motorized ambulances replaced the horse-drawn vans.

One of the map sections at the Potrero Hill Branch Library

The history buff, and someone who has an entire map of San Francisco in his head, my friend Ted, pointed out that the section in the upper right was moved way too far to the right, none-the-less the map of this area shows how the shipyards and PG&E electrical plant were the main items in the area at the time the map was built.

The produce market as shown on the Potrero Hill Branch Library

The San Francisco Produce Market as shown at the Potrero Hill Branch Library

I could only find a reference to the stadium on a 1950 Sanborn Map calling it “Formerly San Francisco Stadium – removed”. (volume 11 – page 786)

Mission District Public Library

The old San Francisco and San Jose Railroad with its raised beds and bridges as shown on the Mission Branch library section

One of the more interesting things on the Mission Branch library map is the section that shows how the San Francisco/San Jose Railroad (1860s) line actually came through this part of town on raised beds and large bridges where it crossed street intersections. Here is a fun documentary made by CalTrain about the history of the line.

Notice the light wells that abound on the homes that sit wall to wall in the Mission District

Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Branch Library

Mission Dolores, angled off the grid in the center at the bottom, can be found at the Eureka Valley Branch Library

Mission Dolores, the light brown building center bottom, can be found at the Eureka Valley Branch Library

The Eureka Valley section shows primarily the residential neighborhoods, but one interesting building was the German Hospital that sits in the block made up of Noe/Duboce/ Castro and 14th.

The German Hospital

In 1854, the German General Benevolent Society formed the German Hospital to provide healthcare, food, and shelter for San Francisco’s German immigrants, who flooded the City during the Gold Rush. Founder Joseph N. Rausch, M.D., also proposed one of the country’s first pre-paid health plans: for a dollar a month, German-speaking immigrants qualified for a private hospital bed if they ever needed it, at a rate of one dollar per day. In 1895, the Society expanded its membership and was treating all citizens of San Francisco by century’s end.

If you have the chance, please try to visit this project, it is up until March. It is a wonderful view of San Francisco long ago.

If you do, the Librarians have stamps to prove you have been there, so grab a “Take Part” map at your local branch, collect all the stamps when visiting SFPL branches, and return your completed stamped map to win a SFMOMA prize.

Take Root

Posted by Cindy on June 30, 2018

Jun 302018

Chinatown Public Library
1135 Powell Street

Take Root is a set of bi-lingual panels referencing traditional Chinese salutary plaques in contemporary materials of rear-illuminated, die-cut anodized aluminum. The Chinese text is based on calligraphy written for Take Root by well-known artist and calligrapher C. C. Wang. It features a Chinese-American saying about setting roots in America, that is adapted from a traditional saying about returning to the old country at life’s end. The English text is a poetic translation.

Light sconces bear the names of key departing and arrival cites in Asia and America.

Copper-leafed columns bear copper panels that are etched with bilingual community poems about the library and referencing the immigrant history of the community.

Rene Yung is a visual artist living and working in San Francisco, California. She grew up in colonial Hong Kong before emigrating to the United States. Her work combines visual imagery with text to explore issues of culture and identity. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, Venice, Italy, as part of the 1995 Venice Biennale; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; Center for the Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco; San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art; the Richmond Art Center, Richmond; and other Bay Area institutions.

Glass Flowers

Posted by Cindy on May 10, 2018

May 102018

Portola Branch Library
380 Bacon Street
Portola/Excelsior

Dana Zed has been exhibiting her art nationally and internationally for over 30 years. She holds a BA from Brown University in Rhode Island. She has works in the permanent collections of The Corning Museum in New York and The Oakland Museum. Zed owns and operates a glass studio in Oakland as well as teaching ceramics to kids in the East Bay. She also teaches adults at Esaeln Institute in Big Sur.

Dana Zed Portola Library

California Wildflowers is a set of four handmade glass and metal shutters installed in the front window of the Portola Branch Library. This set of 20 glass panels depict California indigenous wildflowers, such as chamomile, daisy, echinacea, lavender, morning glory, poppy, star flower and western dogwood. The artist was inspired by the many nurseries that once were located in the Portola neighborhood.

The glass pieces were commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission for an amount not to exceed $36,000.

Portola Library San Francisco Public ARt

Alice Aycock at the SFPL

Posted by Cindy on March 18, 2018

Mar 182018

San Francisco Main Library
100 Larkin Street
5th Floor

1996 Aluminum and structural steel with painted steel sheathing, approximately 24′ high x 32′ long x 20′ wide

Alice Aycock has designed a spiral stairway between the fifth and sixth floors of the suspended, glass-enclosed reading room that projects into the library’s great atrium space. The staircase wraps around a cone tipped at an angle, and as the two-story cone appears to unravel, it sheds fragments of false or imaginary stairs.

A second element, the Cyclone fragment, is suspended in the adjacent atrium and functions as a ghost projection of the spiral stair. If the stairs suggest knowledge unfolding, the Cyclone symbolizes knowledge in its most dynamic and transitional state. For the artist, her work in the library is the culmination of years of ongoing dialogue with the architect James Ingo Freed.

Alice Aycock Aycock was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on November 20, 1946. She studied at Douglass College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. She subsequently moved to New York City and obtained her Master of Arts in 1971 from Hunter College, where she was taught and supervised by sculptor and conceptual artist Robert Morris.

Mission Branch Library and Leo Lentelli

Posted by Cindy on November 25, 2014

Nov 252014

Mission Branch Library
24th Between Bartlett and Orange Alley
Mission District

Leo Lentelli was one of San Francisco’s more prolific and well known sculptors during his time. Sadly very little of his work survives inside of the city. There is a beautiful piece at the Hunter Dunlin building downtown, and this sculpture over the original entry door on 24th Street of the Mission Branch Library.

Lentelli, an immigrant from Italy spent 1914-1918 in San Francisco. During that time he did a series of equestrian statues that were part of the Court of the Universe and his sculptures of Water Sprites for the Court of Abundance for the Pan Pacific Exposition

Lentelli created “Five Symbolic Figures,” a series of five statues representing Art, Literature, Philosophy, Science and Law, that were placed between the pillars above the entrance to the Old Main Library at Larkin Street. These works, made of cast stone were installed in 1918, the year after the Library opened, and were not intended to be permanent. Sadakichi Hartmann, writing for the Architecture and Engineer in 1918, praised these works for “their sturdiness of conception and attitude, their decorative expression, and a certain swing and freedom of handling.” To my horror upon learning this, and to the detriment of all, the Asian Art Museum, when taking over and renovating the Library, found that these works had deteriorated so much that no attempt was made to retain or restore them.

From the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection SFPL

The Mission Branch Library is part of the group of libraries built in San Francisco with William Carnegie monies, this particular building was built under the design guidelines of the Carnegie Standards.