Back to Contents

November / December 2011
Volume 23, Number 6

A Reader's Paradise

While many public libraries struggle for funds, private donations and grants revitalized the Tom Green County Library

By Larry Justiss
Photos by Tom Kessler

When built in 1972, the Hemphill Wells Building in downtown San Angelo housed a thriving department store fully equipped with a restaurant and hair salon. For more than a decade, it was the social and geographic center of town; the area was booming and parking was hard to find. But with the demise of downtowns across the nation, the department store closed in 1986. The building remained vacant for nearly 20 years.

That is, until 2005, when the cramped conditions of the Tom Green County Library became too much for residents to handle. Housed at the time in the Judge Edd B. Keyes Building with other county offices, the library didn’t have enough meeting spaces, enough reading spaces, enough book spaces.

Though Tom Green County residents could have abandoned the library or otherwise ignored the need, they instead came together to support an $18 million plan to move the library to a location adjacent to the county’s courthouse — the abandoned Hemphill Wells Building that had once represented such great grandeur and promise to Tom Green residents. The new building gave the library approximately 85,000 square feet of space, versus the 35,684 square feet of space that the library had in its previous location.

Though the building had been vacant for two decades, residents hadn’t abandoned memories of the vibrancy it once held, and many were driven by the promise of again having a thriving downtown area. So residents embraced the Hemphill Wells revitalization effort with open arms and financial donations.

More than 140 different families, businesses, organizations and foundations donated at least $10,000 each to the project. In all, the library was able to collect $17.5 million in private donations and grants to help with the construction costs.

The Hemphill Wells Building has two and a half stories above grade and one below. Its main distinguishing feature is an overhanging second story, with rounded corners and rounded edges framing a figurative sculpture on one facade and a window on the other. Because of its use as a department store, the ground level façade was opaque with a few display windows.

To transform the introverted building into an extroverted center of activity, the street level brick on the two prominent facades has been replaced with undulating glass. Library activities are revealed at one façade and public gathering at the other. At the intersection of these facades, a portion of the floor directly inside of the library has been removed so that the children’s area of the library located in the lower level is on display and natural light can be seen from the lower level.

There is an infusion of non-traditional library services into this building to support a renewed vitality in downtown San Angelo. The lobby boasts a gallery of local artwork and a coffee/sandwich shop offers breakfast and lunch options to the employees of the surrounding buildings. A large Community Room is located on the third level adjacent to a roof deck with vivid views of the surrounding downtown structures. The community space can be used for meetings, conferences, symposiums, lectures, special events and other programming put on by the library and other community organizations.

The building is organized to allow the lobby and meeting areas to have operating hours independent of the library proper. There are two building entries – one along Beauregard Avenue, the main downtown thoroughfare, and one along Irving convenient to the parking garage.

The main pathway slices through the building to connect the entries. A glazed wall separates the secured library zone from the lobby.

Interrupting this pathway is a cylindrical volume housing the single entry into the library, and the vertical circulation to the penthouse meeting spaces. A smaller cylindrical volume houses the circulation desk and is located directly across from its larger counterpart.

The relationship of these volumes sets the circulation desk as the focal point upon entry into the library. A second pathway separates the public portion of the library from the back operations and runs parallel to the glazed divider of the lobby from the library. This path is adjacent to the circulation desk, elevator, and stairwell within the library. This simple organization is repeated on each floor of the library, allowing easy navigation and orientation.

Bringing life to a decades-old vacant building is one of the sustainable tenets. A new bus stop is located in front of the building, improving public transportation to the library and to this portion of downtown. Most of the existing walls and floors have been reused. To improve energy efficiency, an insulated wall has been added to all exterior walls. The old, leaking roofs have been replaced with new, highly insulated roofs to improve energy efficiency. The exterior roofing membrane meets sustainable reflective qualities to reject the strong West Texas summer heat. The new glazing at the ground level is shaded by the overhanging second level. The glazing also has the most advanced thermal properties available in today’s market. Fritted glass is used strategically to reduce late afternoon glare and improve thermal comfort for the building occupants.

The punched windows are deeply recessed from the exterior face of the building, essentially using the building envelope to reject direct heat energy from the sun. A double layer of glass bricks was installed with an air barrier between them to prevent thermal bridging.

Many of the various interior finishes contain recycled materials. Materials not recycled are sourced from rapidly renewable products. Toxins are minimized through the careful specification of materials and adhesives, improving occupant health. Water conservation techniques have been employed with native planting around the building and motion-sensor plumbing fixtures within. The mechanical and electrical systems have been optimized to reduce operating costs. Energy recovery methods have been employed with the specified mechanical systems.

The materials used for the new library reflects the diverse San Angelo community, their independent spirit, and their regional pride. A custom tile with the cowboy logo from the library card clads the entry vestibules. An image of a San Angelo landmark, the Twin Mountains, is digitally imprinted on the 150-foot glass wall separating the library from the lobby. The main circulation cylinder marking the interior entry to the library is enveloped with leather pelts. Three hats representing the main demographic of the community – the cowboy hat, the buffalo soldier hat and the sombrero – pattern the lobby wall. Animals of the southwest make up the patterned wall covering in the children’s area, and the southwest color palate sets a warm, friendly and familiar environment throughout the building.

Downtown San Angelo continues with its vitalization efforts, and the library is no exception. While the central library averaged 900 people a day in the previous location, the new prominent location has increased its traffic to an average of 1,500 people a day, with a high of 1,800 visitors in one day. Book circulation has increased by 45 percent, and the average amount of time people spend in the library has increased, with people reading books, playing chess and enjoying the company of others.

The library is not only an aesthetically pleasing addition to the courthouse square; it has become an enrichment center. High school students often spend their days and evenings in the library’s “Teens Only” space, where teens can utilize computers and other high tech equipment. Parents and children are bonding as never before in the expanded children’s area, not just reading, but putting puzzles together and experiencing the “tubular” reading nooks. It also isn’t unusual to pass by a Chess game or two. And as a vital new component of the Downtown San Angelo, Inc.’s monthly Art Walk, the library is promoting the importance and value of the arts with two art venues: one venue located within the library and a second within the café space located at the library’s entrance.

Live music is featured in the food area on Friday and Saturday nights. Additionally, the library is promoting economic growth with extended hours until 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Attractive, color-coordinated outdoor seating serves as an invitation to passersby, as well as providing expanded seating for the café.

While other libraries are on the decline, the Stephens Central Library shows the dedication of a community to bring libraries back to life. The building was paid for by the community and is enjoyed by the community.

About the author: Larry Justiss is the Tom Green County Library Director. He can be reached at larry.justiss@co.tom-green.tx.us.