A Visit to the Seattle Central Library

Last night, while walking through downtown DC, I passed by the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library, which is the main building in the DC Public Library system.  I've walked by it plenty of times, never really thinking twice about it.  I'm sure it's a fine library on the inside but, as you can see from the picture below, it's not really remarkable or anything especially nice to look at.  Just another large building downtown.

I'd heard a lot of praise regarding the Seattle Central Library in downtown Seattle and how neat it was.  I never made it around to visiting the Seattle Central Library during my trip last year, so this time around, I made sure not to miss it.

We were somewhat rushed, having scheduled a tour of a local chocolate factory for later that afternoon.  We only got to spend about 20 minutes in this amazing library, but we made it count.  And even in that short time, I fell in love.

Let's first meander through the children's section.




I'm so intrigued by this book, despite its horrifying title.













Colorful, whimsical, and full of every delightful book imaginable, this was the children's section of my dreams.  My 8-year old self could've lived her forever.  Then again, my 24-year old self is still pretty tempted.

However, since our time was running short, we had to rush to see what else this building had in store.

Up by the top there was a great view with these amazing slanted glass panes.









And of course, let us not forget the neon yellow escalator.



I spent a lot of time in libraries growing up.  In middle school and high school, whenever I had a chunk of spare time, I would take the bus down to the library and spend hours there, pouring over books.  I wish I had had such a cool space as this.  I sadly don't think enough about architecture and it's ability to transform locations and create incredible, memorable, unique spaces.  Maybe one day I'll create my own fantastical, magical, surreal, cool-ass library that'll rival even this one.