The Daily Alaska empire., 1950-06-17
DIST. ENGINEER
 OBJECTS TO PLANS
 FOR LIBRARY BLDG,

EVN LlDNHNY DAUV. | Will the Juneau Memorial Library | turn out to be pig in a poke V after the efforts expended by the community and the library commit tee to make it possible? Objections to several features
 shown in the plans for the pro-
 posed building were raised last night at the City Council meeting by
 John D. Argetsinger, district en- ! gineer in charge of public work ! projects for Alaska.
 His objections were: 1. The entire stack structure w. the second floor would not be fire proof.
 2. Space worth s25,000 would be i wasted in the basement due t l cement pillars every eight feet. l 3. Access to the mems an5
 womens toilets are through the Story Hour Room or the Stack
 Room, and it is not considered by | this office as good planning" The plans were brought before
 the council by Mayor Waino Hen drickson who had been requested by members of the library commit tee to approve them. Planning for the memorial library is under the charge of the library committee, but Public Works Bill regulations re- | quire that an agent of the city approve the plans.
 i The Council, feeling it had little 1 power in the matter because the library committee is directly in charge of the project, promised its I approval of the plans over the ob- I jections of Argetsinger. However, il ] required that the library committee submit a statement ot the commit tees approval of the plans before the Councils approval becomes effective.
 In letter to Mayor Hendrickson, Argetsinger had explained his ob- | jections The letter was read at the Council meeting.
 Referring to the construction Of i the stack structure, he wrote: Tt is our understanding that it was the wish of the Library Board to con- struct a fireproof building. This
 would be highly desirable His statement concerning the lower floor was:
 No provisions have been made for reference room and small conference or assembly room. With respect to the conference room, we consider this very important fea- ture in any library building. We
 believe that some other type of con- struction could have been utilized which would have obviated the need for expensive tile roofing) ana that with this saving the column
 spacing as shown in the foundation plan Approximately eight feet) could have been increased to pro-
 vide unobstructed space for such room in the future" At the meeting, he suggested that steel beams instead of concrete
 pillars could be used for this pur- pose. He said he understood the req son for the pillars; there was steel shortage at the time the plans
 were first drawn.
 Dr. James c. Ryan, member ot the hard-working library commit tee, said any change in plans would cause a delay and would cost at least an additional $7,000 He said it is problematical that larger
 building could be accommodated on the present site.
 Dr. Ryan termed the design one of simple dignity" and something to be proud of."
 "W've been carrying this project
 for four years,'' Ryan said. We feel that the plans should be ap- proved and this building con- structed."
 B. D. Stewart, acting head of the
 library committee, urged that Dr
 Ryan's request be acted upon.
 Harold Foss, member of the firm
 of Foss and Malcolm which drew
 the plans, agreed with Argetsinger's
 arguments but urged that Dr.
 Ryan's plea be acted upon. He said the plans are revised de-
 signs based on those drawn up in
 l946 when the library committee
 thought only $50,000 could be spent on the project.
 Answering the arguments of Dr. Ryan and Foss, Argetsinger said:
 When the building is new, the public thinks the building is won-
 derful. In five years they find 1t isn't as good as they thought"
 He said, however, that his office would approve the plans if the library committee and the city saw fit to approve them as they are.
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