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A novel approach

Superior couple plotted a successful strategy to turn an old library into a comfortable, whimsical home

BY CANDACE RENALLS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

It's been 13 years since Superior's East End Carnegie Library was open for business, but people still stop by.

They may be back in town visiting and want to see the old neighborhood library again. They may have fond memories of going there as children.

"They have stories to share, where they sat, who the librarians were," said Sally Miller, who has made the library her home for 12 years.

Sally and her husband, Ron, don't mind visitors. But to help satisfy the curious, they were part of the Douglas County Historical Society's annual fall tour.

The former library was built in 1917 with a $20,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation Fund and $2,000 from the community. It was the second Carnegie library in Superior and one of nearly 1,700 libraries that steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie built across the country between 1886 and 1919.

Carnegie libraries -- in styles such as Neo-classical, Georgian and Prairie -- are considered architectural gems. They featured high ceilings, beautiful woodwork and large, distinctive windows.

"It's a beautiful old building that was built as a library; it felt like a library," said Teddie Meronek, who served as East End librarian for the last 10 years. "It was neat because it was a neighborhood library. There were schools in the neighborhood and kids could walk there after school. Everybody came in who lived in the East End and you knew everybody."

MUCH STILL FAMILIAR

Today the former library on East Fifth Street is surrounded by a vine-covered iron fence with an arched gate. "Superior Public Library" and "Free To All" remain engraved in stone above the front entrance.

Former library patrons find much that is familiar inside the stately Georgian building.

The library's open design remains intact with the large reading room on one side and a children's room with a fireplace on the other. Magazine racks remain as do about a dozen oak bookcases that hold the Millers' books, antiques and keepsakes.

"A lot of it are trinkets picked up around the world," said Ron, 63, a retired barber who owned Miller's Barber Shop in South Superior.

The library's large, five-sided oak and marble lending desk is still there. It's no longer in the center of the 27-by-54-foot space but at one end. It's staffed by a mannequin librarian, just one example of the couple's whimsical touches.

"They were supposed to sell the lending desk, but that never got done, so that was to our advantage," said Sally, 62, a retired registered nurse.

A revolving display rack for artwork came from the city's old main library on Hammond Avenue, also a Carnegie Library. A tall cupboard came from the old Erickson Elementary School in the city's North End.

The couple's Mission-style oak tables, chairs, bureaus and cabinets fit right in. The furniture and bookcases are arranged to create a series of sitting areas within the large, open design.

Walls are a lively red with cream trim. The space, with 14-foot ceilings, serves as the couple's living room and dining room. It's where their love of antiques, art, the outdoors and their own creativity combine in a visual smorgasbord.

"I love it," Sally said. "It's a fun building to live in."

Small 19th-century carriages and sleighs that Ron restored are displayed on platforms above the front entrance and a closet. On the walls hang artwork and trophy mounts that reflect Ron's love of hunting, such as a moose from the Yukon and a boar from Poland. The Gaelic harp, antique organs and exotic flutes reflect Sally's musical nature.

Throughout there's whimsy: a fake serpent winding itself through a big rubber plant. A 6-foot birch branch holds hanging fireplace accessories.

"People can't be too serious," Sally said.

BOUGHT ON A LARK

The Millers lived in a nearby apartment when the East End Library closed in 1991 and was put up for sale.

"We were looking for a place to buy and redo," Ron said.

They took a walk one day and looked at the building. They returned for an open house and entered the winning bid of around $17,000.

"It was just kind of a lark," Sally said of their bid. "We never dreamed we'd ever be able to get it."

The Millers were up to the challenge of converting a library into a home. They had built two houses in the country, one a log home that Ron had dismantled and reconstructed. Ron is also an accomplished woodworker who made some of their Mission furniture.

They painted, repaired and did a little remodeling of the old library. In the former back reference room, they removed a dropped ceiling and Ron added a wall to create a kitchen and bedroom. Partitioned walls create a bathroom, closets and a back entrance.

They painted all the rooms in vibrant colors and replaced fluorescent lights with hanging chandeliers. They built an attached garage, taking care to match the library's red bricks.

Meronek, the former librarian who also grew up in the neighborhood, was crushed when the library closed. But she's pleased with what the Millers have done.

"They did a beautiful job," Meronek said. "I think what they've done to it is wonderful. It's all there in one piece, and they take wonderful care of it. I'm just thankful every day that it's still there the way it was."

The couple said they bought the old library to preserve it and keep it from being divided up into apartments.

"I love the old feel about it, the solidness, the atmosphere, the old Georgian Windows," Sally said. "It's the feeling of living in an old building, like living in an old school."

CANDACE RENALLS is at (218) 723-5329 or e-mail: crenalls@duluthnews.com

[original article]

Posted by thinkum at November 8, 2004 12:02 PM