Forest Park’s century-plus-old library is the next Enoch Pratt branch in line for an overhaul.
The plans moved forward this morning, when the city’s spending board approved a $123,662 payment to Catonsville-based architecture and engineering firm Prime A/E Group for “building assessment and schematic design services” for the first phase of renovations.
Today’s spending board agenda said the assignment length is roughly two and a half years.
Enoch Pratt Free Library system spokesperson Meghan McCorkell said via email the project is “just in the very beginning phases.” There’s no timeline at this point, and library officials haven’t yet solicited feedback from neighbors in the Northwest Baltimore community, but “certainly” plan to do so, just as they did before the Hampden branch’s ongoing $3 million renovation.
“We’re excited to give the community a refreshed beautiful library,” McCorkell wrote in an email.
The Forest Park branch, located at 3023 Garrison Blvd., dates to Nov. 26, 1910, when it opened after being built with a donation from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The library system doubled the size of the building in April 1964, adding two new wings. It was later renovated and rededicated in February 1987.
Enoch Pratt has been busy with various projects for its branches. Aside from the work taking place in Hampden–which includes digging out a new floor in the basement to add more meeting space and making the building more handicap-accessible–it’s also building a brand new branch in Park Heights to replace the old, shuttered one in Pimlico, and last week unveiled a grandly restored Enoch Pratt Central building downtown.
