Part two—interior. Does this look like an Apple store to you?

In the early 20th century, industrialist turned philanthropist Andrew Carnegie engaged in a program to finance the construction of more than 2,500 local public libraries in cities and towns across the United States. In Washington, DC, a stunning Beaux Arts building was constructed in Mount Vernon Square as the city’s Carnegie Library, which not incidentally was the first public building to allow all the city’s residents to use, as racial segregation was still in force over the entire southern portion of the country. Despite this storied history, over the past 20 years, the building has been the focus of several unsuccessful attempts at adaptive re-used. Efforts to turn the building into a city museum were ultimately short-lived, the Historical Society of Washington, DC retained offices and archives there and attempted to turn architectural gem into a rental venue, and most recently attempts by the International Spy Museum to take over the space were aborted, after the museum failed to get the requisite approvals from the city’s architectural and preservation overseers. Now, Apple is turning the building into one of its iconic stores, and here are some views of the plans for the interior.

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Apple’s plans to renovate Carnegie Library move forward

By Michelle Goldchain

Curbed Washington Dc

June 29, 2107