The Denver Public Library’s lifelong vision to build libraries for communities where everyone thrives is evident through its offerings for every stage of life. This idea was shaped from the Library’s inception, thanks to the efforts of the first City Librarian, John Cotton Dana. Before the 20th century, children's libraries were not commonplace in the United States, but thanks to Dana, a dedicated collection for children was established within Denver Public Library. Today, this philosophy continues through the Central Library’s renovation, the new Children’s Library, and the addition of the Teen Library. These transformative spaces support Colorado’s youth by empowering and allowing them to ascend to the next level of library services to fit their changing needs.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Designed in 1995 by Michael Graves and the firm Klipp Colussy Jenks DuBois, the Central Library’s previous Children’s Library was part of a monumental upgrade made to the 1956 Burnam-Hoyt Central Library. This Children’s Library featured 9,250 square feet and an intimate pavilion for regular storytimes. However, its deep-set enclave entrance in Schlessman Hall, plus its location behind the hall’s escalators, hid the library from families. Its labyrinthine shelving design often had parents searching for their children. “A small child could enter our shelving, and you couldn't see them.… It was a real safety issue for us,” says Central Library Director Rachel Fewell.
Other improvements to the building became necessary and library planning groups saw potential in the Children’s Library space as the site for a new event space. With the passage of 2017’s Elevate Denver Bond, the Library sought the help of studiotrope Design Collective to create synchronized spaces for all youth and relocate the Children’s Library to the east side of the building.
It’s All by Design: Home to fiction collections, graphic novels, magazines, and a small teen area, moving the Children’s Library by the Broadway east entrance of the Central Library meant moving these collections in increasingly limited space, but it was the right move. The new Children’s Library is 1,000 sq. ft. larger, with improved shelving units that enhance sightlines for parents and allow children to easily reach their favorite books. The addition of a project room also presents new opportunities for arts and crafts programs for kids. At the far end of the Children’s Library is a vast storytime stage. “Moving the Children’s Library to where we did was kind of meant for it, right? That big horseshoe semicircle with all that glass, on to the park.… the old Children’s Library had kind of that reading space on the northside too, but it wasn't quite as flooded with light as it can be now,“ explains studiotrope Architect Anne Pharamond.
An early sketch for the Children’s Library Project Room by studiotrope Design Collective
The Teen Library was also a part of the renovation plan from the start, albeit as an ultimate dream, seemingly escaping the scope of the Library’s renovation at various times due to funding limitations. Last-minute funding from 2022’s Strong Library, Strong Denver, supported by the DPL Fund, as well as a Community Project Funding Grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secured through the Congressionally Directed Spending process, and fundraising support by the Denver Public Library Friends Foundations, finally set the construction of the Teen Library in motion. “Thank goodness we'd already done a lot of… design work up until 2018,” Rachel notes, “We were able to bring [the Teen Library] back into the plan.”
A Link to the Past, Present, and Beyond: With the Teen Library now in play, the two spaces for youth could be naturally integrated. Linking the two spaces together is a historic pink terrazzo staircase, untouched by renovations beyond maintenance. These nearly 70-year-old steps now symbolize the new heights the Central Library’s renovation would take the Denver Public Library. “We knew we were not going to touch that staircase. It does have that historic designation.... It's the literal connector between the children and teen libraries. We wanted to have that continuity for kids who were aging out of the Children's Library,” says Rachel.
A view of the historically designated Burnam Hoyt staircase from the Teen Library
Teen areas and collections exist elsewhere within the Denver Public Library system, but an entire library is a new venture. Intentionally designed to mirror the Children’s Library below, the space opens up with a leveled-up project room. “We decided in each of these spaces to design a developmentally appropriate kind of project space that is kind of within the continuum of moving into the ideaLAB,” Rachel says. Another throughline between the two spaces? Felt. The material brings a spirited pop of color with the added benefit of dampening sound. Beyond the felt, sixteen striking colors were chosen for the space, each with a fun name such as Jitterbug Jade and Cloudburst. Wrapping the end of the Teen Library is a wide space with tall windows that bring a lot of natural light, just as the Children’s Library does.
Prior to the renovation, Colorado’s youth explored the Central Library by using the computers on level four, checking out the ideaLAB for project ideas, and the stacks throughout the building. However, a gap in services was obvious, and youth were limited to spaces between the very young and the grown. By creating dedicated and interconnected youth spaces, the Library honors a commitment started over a century ago to serve all within the community and instill a lifelong love of libraries at every stage of life.
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The Children’s Library was the first major milestone in the Central Library renovation, opening to the public in April 2022. Hours for the Children’s Library are the same as the rest of the Central Library and can be found here. A full reopening of the Central Library, including the Teen Library, is set for November.
Read about the intricate care needed to transform the old Children’s Library into the Library’s new Park View event space here. Visit each month for more Reno-Revelations, and head to the Explore Central page for regular updates on the Central Library!