Boston Athenaeum with Annum Architects
The renovation and expansion of the Boston Athenaeum engages with the community at the street level, continuing into the main reception lobby to welcome members and visitors. The redesigned lobby opens up to historic gathering spaces whose window overlook Boston’s Granary Burying Ground and Tremont Street beyond.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
Founded in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. With a collection of more than 600,000 volumes and 100,000 works of art, it safeguards an important part of Boston’s — and our nation’s — arts and letters. Today, the Athenaeum welcomes members, visitors, and guests to enjoy its collections and active programming of book clubs, exhibitions, lectures, and concerts.
BEFORE
Existing Conditions: The solid red doors provided limited views into the building, in conflict with the Athenaeum’s goal of welcoming all. A statue disrupted access to the Athenaeum’s offerings, obscuring connection into the Long Room, a primary gathering space in the historic building. Lockers and coat rooms cluttered the entry sequence, while an opaque vestibule blocked natural light and visibility in the reception area. Challenges in the Long Room included lighting and acoustics, inflexible furnishings, and a painting selection limited to Athenaeum founders only.
Photo Cred: Ann Beha Architects, now Annum Architects (ABA/Annum)
Located on the top of Boston’s Beacon Hill at 10 ½ Beacon Street, the Athenaeum’s circa 1849 building is a National Historic Landmark. Prompted in part by a current and growing need for multipurpose, flexible space that could be quickly adapted to accommodate diverse functions with differing levels of technology, the Athenaeum took on a long lease for additional space on the first and fourth floors of the adjacent 14 Beacon Street building. Ann Beha Architects, now Annum Architects, was selected to design the new space, as well as address deficiencies in the historic building while preserving its interior aesthetic.
AFTER
A new wall opening creates clear sight lines between the vestibule and welcome desk for improved wayfinding and security. Coat and locker storage are moved beyond the welcome desk.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
The design removes locker and coat storage from the lobby to introduce more transparency and visibility of historic detail. Exterior windows were uncovered to introduce more natural light and to allow pedestrians to see into the Athenaeum. The lobby now doubles as a breakout area for events.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
The rejuvenated Long Room provides flexible seating and tables to accommodate a wide range of vents and performances. Updated contemporary wall colors, new lighting and acoustic treatment increase its versatility for events. Its end wall has been rehung with a selection of portraits by Boston women artists.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
Through discussions with leadership, staff, membership, and visitors, options that would meet the wide-ranging demands of current and future patrons were explored for both buildings. Foundational to this exploration was the Athenaeum’s mission “to engage all who seek knowledge by making accessible the library's collections and spaces, thereby inspiring reflection, discourse, creative expression, and joy”.
BEFORE
Existing conditions: The first floor and fourth floor spaces in 14 Beacon Street added to the Athenaeum had been previously gutted. The existing windows were preserved and upgraded with their historic character maintained. A goal for the new layouts of these floors was to prioritize views that celebrate the character of the surrounding historic neighborhood.
Photo Cred: ABA/Annum
Annum’s changes to the historic building include a re-envisioned entrance reception lobby, new coat and locker areas, children’s library, digital imaging lab, study center, and a future bistro. New spaces in the adjacent building, accessed through new connections to the historic building, include new curatorial and administrative offices and a gallery for changing exhibitions of books, prints, paintings, and other artwork from the Athenaeum’s extensive collections. Two new multipurpose event areas were also created, furnished as living rooms with adjacent meeting rooms for both member and rental use, easily convertible for dinners, lectures, musical events, or dancing.
AFTER
The comfortably furnished Leventhal Room on the first floor is a new gathering space, an informal living room for members and guests. Restored windows optimize views of the Granary Burying Ground.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
Exhibit cases display selections of the Athenaeum’s print and decorative arts collections. Beyond the double doors is a 60-seat flexible meeting room, with fully integrated audio-visual technology.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
A series of connected living rooms on the fourth floor create an informal social and work setting for members and guests, with a dedicated coffee area and small ancillary rooms for private telephone conversations.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
Exhibition cases for the Athenaeum collections flank the entrance to the Fourth Floor 40-person meeting room, equipped with fully integrated audio-visual technology and flexible furnishings for events and rentals.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
The remarkable historic spaces in the 10½ Beacon Street building remained largely intact, while all interior fabric and partitions of the new spaces in the 14 Beacon Street building needed to be demolished. A challenge was to create an aesthetic harmony between the two buildings, cohesively blending the old and the new. A new accessible glass-enclosed vestibule improves security and wayfinding both entering and exiting the building. Natural light is introduced by the uncovering of historic street-facing windows, with the added benefit of making interior activities more welcoming and visible from Beacon Street. Throughout both buildings, new wall hanging systems allow paintings from collections in storage to be brought out and shared, while custom-designed display cases make visible more of the Athenaeum’s printed materials and decorative arts than before.
The new Children’s Library with bookshelves on wheels is easily reconfigurable for group storytelling and events. It features a new mural by Ekua Holmes of Roxbury, a visual artist and award-winning illustrator of children’s books.
Photo Cred: Anton Grassl
The renovation adds a new gallery that can be transformed for changing exhibitions with Athenaeum objects or for traveling exhibitions, supporting the Athenaeum’s mission to improve and encourage access to its cultural programming.
Photo Cred: ABA/Annum
The Athenaeum’s iconic red doors were preserved and re-crafted with glass panels, allowing the public a glimpse into the historic “community of the curious”.
Photo: Anton Grassl
The project preserves an architecturally significant building in a historic neighborhood and adds new spaces supporting the Boston Athenaeum’s continued commitment to welcome all to join and stay attuned to what matters in changing times.
Plan: ABA/Annum
Annum Architects
Boston Athenaeum
Collaborators:
Structural - Thorton Tomasetti
MEP/FP - Allied Engineering Services
Landscape - Richard Burck Associates
Lighting - Available Light
Acoustical - Acentech
Graphic Design - Anna Farrington
Construction Management - Consigli Construction
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