At 107 years old, Winnipeg’s Cornish Library has changed with the times—over and over again. Its latest multi-million-dollar addition comes with a message: all are welcome.
Winnipeg’s Cornish Library has changed with the times—over and over again. Its basement, which once hosted rousing lectures by Canadian activist Nellie McClung, now shelves Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s. The heritage building bridges the gap between two very different Winnipegs. It’s located just inside the ornamental iron-and-stone gates of Armstrong’s Point, a placid residential neighbourhood complete with million-dollar, manor-style homes.
In 2015, hoping to make the Cornish more inviting, the city of Winnipeg commissioned Public City Architecture, a local firm, to reimagine it. “We decided to make the project about opening the library to the communities around it,” says Peter Sampson, Public City’s principal architect. “Libraries have changed a lot in the last 10 or 20 years—they’re no longer just palaces for old books.” The Cornish, in fact, is known to some of its neighbours as “the living room.
The jewel of the Cornish’s $2.5-million, multi-year makeover is its extension: clad in floor-to-ceiling oak, and supported by a solitary but heavy-duty concrete column, the space is made to house community shindigs and extra reading room, and to host rotating exhibitions by area artists. Wrapped in glass, the walls of the addition occasionally seem to disappear altogether. “In certain types of light, it’s hard to find the edges,” Sampson says.
Limestone slabs, sourced from quarries north of Winnipeg and weighing in at 3,500 pounds each, line the exterior of the Cornish’s addition to form a seating area. Public City planted larch saplings around the perimeter, creating a reading room in the forest., a permanent artwork made by local artist Michael Dumontier, is designed to look like a vase. It’s also a continuation of the single concrete column that supports the addition.
The Cornish’s children’s reading room was outfitted with new, concealed heating elements, recycled carpet tile and refinished original oak woodwork in the panels, columns and bookshelves. The colourful plastic dogs, pops of whimsy added later by the library, are stools.
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