LOCATION: BRONX, NY
TYPE: PRESERVATION
STATUS: 2024
CLIENT: HUNTINGTON FREE LIBRARY AND READING ROOM
TEAM: AMANDA SCHACHTER, ALEXANDER LEVI, DUGAN LUNDAY
CONSULTANTS: TOM FARAONE ENGINEERING
SUPPORT: NEW YORK LANDMARKS CONSERVANCY
The addition of ADA access to the Huntington Free Library brings architect Frederick C. Wither’s 1890 Victorian Gothic structure into the twenty-first century. Predating the New York Public Library system, what began under local patrons as a free reading room whose mission was to give access to books and periodicals for all—and “to provide a place where all persons without distinction of race or creed may assemble for the purpose of reading, study, education and self-improvement”— is now accessible physically regardless of disability to the whole community, through a ramped approach both to the main building entrance as well as its surrounding outdoor spaces. Looking to the original structure for its form, the ADA design takes its cues from Withers, with an octagonal landing presiding at the main entrance, and the motif of the gothic arch, here transformed in the ramp’s guardrail into the interlocking curves of an open book, signifying knowledge’s openness to all.
The front stairs have been rebuilt in their entirety to bring the landing to the exact height of the door and remove the threshold step, with a trench drain at the entrance allowing water to shed away from the doorway. The project also rethinks rainwater management by creating new opportunities for landscaping. The building’s existing leader collecting rainwater off the north side of the roof is split into two pipes that water a planter extending the length of the ramp.
The ADA access ramp is part of a larger effort by the Huntington Free Library to restore the historical 1890 building. In 2023, as part of a first phase, we restored the library’s lost original slate roof, replacing the asphalt roof, long in disrepair, that had been installed in the mid-twentieth century.
The Free Library, home to a large and notable archive, continues to be a vital neighborhood hub, providing programs, lectures, and events about Bronx history to local residents.
