Excelsior library hits a design snag

Excelsior really wants a new library, but not the one that Hennepin County has in mind.

The city's Heritage Preservation Commission and some residents found a contemporary design presented recently by the county for a key spot on downtown Water Street to be at odds with the historic character of the tiny Lake Minnetonka community.

Hennepin proposed a one-story contemporary library with brown brick and zinc cladding and a door in the middle of the building instead of right on Water Street, the city's main artery.

But Excelsior was unhappy with the brick color, the silver color of the trim, the roof line, the windows, the orientation of the building and the lack of a front door on Water Street.

"A great number of people really think it's extremely important to preserve the history of the community," Heritage Preservation Commission member Bob Bolles said. He noted that Excelsior was settled in 1853, before Minnesota became a state.

"We all want the library," Bolles said. "We just want the appearance of it to be harmonious with the rest of the community."

Stunned by the reaction, the county has put the $6.6 million project on pause for further discussion. Construction will not start this fall as planned, and how long it might take to modify the design is unclear.

County Commissioner Jan Callison, who has been an advocate for the library, met with city officials last week.

"We had two conflicting visions," she said. "We respect Excelsior's vision for its downtown. I think we need to listen to the community better than we did."

Excelsior's one-square-mile size creates an intimate and involved civic community. Many residents closely monitor city affairs, speak out at public meetings and expect their opinions to be considered.

Excelsior Mayor Nick Ruehl said he knew when he saw the design that "it was going to energize discussion in the community."

So far resistance to the design has not prompted the county to kill the project, Ruehl said. "Good attitudes have prevailed here."

A delayed start to construction is disappointing, but the goal is to "have a building that is cherished by the community," Ruehl said.

New Hennepin County libraries with sleek contemporary designs opened last year to rave reviews in Plymouth and Maple Grove, both larger, growing communities.

For Excelsior's library, architect Mark Wenzel, of 292 Design Group in Minneapolis, designed the building to "fit the library's contemporary use the way people use libraries today," he said. "We wanted to create a library that had dynamic spaces inside, had very special places for reading and studying."

But the preservation commission put together "a 10-point check list [for new construction in the historic district] and what he presented didn't pass one of those criteria," said commission member Judy Mueller.

When the design was presented at a commission meeting on March 22, more than a dozen residents spoke, Mueller said. "No one was solicited to come at all. Everybody that saw it just got furious."

It's the vintage atmosphere that draws people to Excelsior to live and visit, Mackenzie said. Each building is critical to that atmosphere, she said, especially a "super-important building on our main street" like the library.

In response to the criticism, Wenzel said he and the county have begun "evaluating what things are very important and would be difficult to change and what things might not be so difficult to change."

Wicks said the county wants a contemporary design to make the library functional and easy for staff to operate.

The door was in the middle of the building to serve both foot traffic from Water Street and people coming from the parking lot at the rear of the building, Wicks said. Placing a second door at the rear of the building would make it difficult for library staff to monitor comings and goings.

Ruehl said, "The city is not going to suggest they put in a period piece." Modern architecture is done all the time in historic areas, and Excelsior has several new buildings that fit in well with the downtown, Ruehl said.