With the Austin History Center “busting at the seams” with, well, history, city library officials have been preparing the John Henry Faulk Building next door to house the History Center’s vast collection of archives.
Both the History Center and the Faulk Building, formerly Austin’s Central Library, are undergoing a rebranding of sorts as the two Guadalupe Street sites evolve into a more cohesive campus with a public plaza and other welcoming features, plus expanded programming at the two facilities.
On Wednesday, Library Director Roosevelt Weeks and Cody Scott, facilities manager for the city’s libraries, briefed the Downtown Commission on this endeavor, made possible with funding from the city’s 2018 bond program and other bond projects. Additional financing for phase two of this undertaking is expected to be drawn from a future bond program.
For now, the Faulk Building is nearing completion of substantial renovations of the second and third floors for archival storage, with enough space to continue growing the collection. The project required asbestos and lead abatement, extensive electrical and plumbing upgrades, and improvements to the first-floor lobby. Several unmet needs remain, including a new chiller and other infrastructure improvements.
“All of this was really focused in on what we needed infrastructure-wise in order to support the archives moving over (to Faulk),” Scott said, noting the significant fire-suppression improvements required to secure the archives. Much of the work in this first phase will be completed by mid-September, Scott added.
“We still have a lot to do. … We haven’t operated in that building in five or six years on a regular basis, so that’s going to take us a little bit of time to get ready, but we are going to expedite getting the public space ready, which will include part of the first-floor entrance and up the grand staircase to the second floor,” Scott told commissioners.
The building’s second floor will feature a reading and research space, along with exhibit space and a large conference room that offers a view of the Texas Capitol.
The second phase of the work, to be funded with dollars from the next city bond package, should voters approve it, would include a rooftop garden, a gallery on the first floor, a plaza courtyard with a cafe, exterior improvements and additional high-density storage shelving. The estimated cost of these improvements is $54.8 million.
The History Center, which served as Austin’s downtown library until the Faulk Building opened in 1979, has also undergone a number of upgrades, including exterior stonework and window repair, ADA-compliance upgrades and landscape improvements.
Exterior stonework restoration on the south facade is on the to-do list, with funding for that work provided in the city’s 2024-25 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1.
The next big change for the History Center would include various infrastructure upgrades, interior preservation work and sustainability enhancements such as rooftop solar panels. These improvements carry an estimated price tag of $15.7 million coming from a future bond project, with voters’ blessing.
Commission Chair August Harris expressed his appreciation for the Library Department’s stewardship of the two buildings.
Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0.
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