Monday, July 14, 2008

Suzzallo Library

Does this look like a setting in the next Harry Potter movie or what? Actually, it's the Suzzallo Library in Seattle, Washington. I look at this picture and think about sitting at one of the tables at night, the massive sconces glowing and an old tome sitting open before me. Perhaps it tells romantic tales of an ancient adventurer or contains spells and magic elixirs that I must memorize for later use. Whatever the case may be, I'm sure reading it in this library would be quite a treat!

The Suzzallo Library was named for Henry Suzzallo, who was president of the University of Washington until he stepped down in 1926, the same year the first phase of the library's construction was completed.

A glass and concrete addition of 125,000 square feet was added to the north and east sides of the Library in the years from 1961 to 1963. This addition completely enclosed an earlier addition of 1947 that was built to provide much-needed storage.

The Seattle Times reported, "it is pronounced by experts to be the most beautiful reading room on the continent, and is ranked among the most beautiful in the world."

For more on the Suzzallo Library, see the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzzallo_Library

http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/sept02/suzzallo1.html

The photo of the Library was taken from: http://curiousexpeditions.org/

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