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Fort Smith Public Library

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1999–2001, Meyer Scherer and Rockcastle. 3201 Rogers Ave.
  • (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, A Division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage)

Set back behind an expansive parking lot, the library is a large, long, arc-shaped building, positioned to fit into its awkward but prominent site at a major intersection. The two-story red brick library is anchored at the center by a cylindrical entrance tower that rises several feet above the body of the building. The tower helps mark the entrance, which might get lost in the rather endless facade. Tall windows in the upper section of the cylinder fill the interior rotunda with light filtered through stained glass. A monumental stairway in the rotunda leads to the second floor. The postmodern classic design by the Minneapolis firm makes reference to Fort Smith’s Carnegie library of 1907 in its classical styling and use of red brick, and the rotunda serves as a surrogate for the 1907 building’s dome. The former Carnegie library, now a TV studio, at N. 13th and N. D streets, has suffered major alterations, which include the addition of a massive pedimented portico.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Cyrus A. Sutherland with Gregory Herman, Claudia Shannon, Jean Sizemore Jeannie M. Whayne and Contributors
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Data

What's Nearby

St. Scholastica Monastery (St. Scholastica Convent)
Fort Smith Regional Art Museum
Immaculate Conception Church
First Presbyterian Church
Commercial Buildings on Garrison Avenue

Citation

Cyrus A. Sutherland with Gregory Herman, Claudia Shannon, Jean Sizemore Jeannie M. Whayne and Contributors, "Fort Smith Public Library", [Fort Smith, Arkansas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AR-01-SB14.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Arkansas

Buildings of Arkansas, Cyrus A. Sutherland and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018, 98-99.

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