San Diego Central Library
In 2010, construction began on the new $184.9M, 366,673 sq ft San Diego Central Library at 330 Park Boulevard in the downtown area. Opening in 2013, the building replaced the 1954 “modern library” which itself replaced the 1902 Carnegie Library. The 9-story structure was designed by San Diego architect Rob Wellington Quigley. It is topped with an iconic steel-and-mesh lattice dome over a two-story rare book reading-room. The project had been in the works since at least 1971, when the first of 46 studies for a new library was published. Quigley, who designed the structure with Tucker Sadler & Associates, came on board in 1995. When asked why he stuck with the project for so long, through budget problems and four site changes, he replied, “It’s in my backyard. It was just too important a project, culturally, to the city, and to all of us.”
San Diego, San Diego County
Photographer: John Bare
