Andrew Carnegie planted 1,689 seeds in the United States and nearly a thousand more abroad. These seeds are the legacy we now refer to as the Carnegie Libraries. More than a century later, many of these buildings still provide the services they were designed to provide. Today, for many, Carnegie Libraries are the spatial representation of the tradition of community spaces. They retain the form, the proportions, and the civic presence that Andrew Carnegie envisioned.

The needs of patrons have not stopped evolving, and today’s Carnegies can continue to serve their communities as libraries or cultural beacons, museums, community centers, and public meeting halls. Even when they remain libraries, the Carnegies provide much more today than they were originally designed to accommodate: public access to the internet, community events, and a broad range of content that is available through expanded districts as well as inter-library loans.

Early in his career, Ray Johnston worked with the Seattle Public Library to help transition these historic structures to meet the modern needs of patrons in the 1980s, and thus began a lifelong career in designing libraries and public spaces. Ray began by refining life/safety upgrades for all seven of Seattle’s Carnegie Libraries, including ADA access and improved circulation. Ray was then selected to design the remodel of the Columbia City Carnegie Library, an effort which included the replacement of card catalogs with computers, becoming a model for the transformation of all of the Seattle Public Library’s Carnegie facilities.

After the successful Columbia City Library update, Ray directed the renovations of Green Lake and University Libraries. Ray’s involvement in library design continues more than thirty years later, with studies of Carnegie Libraries in Snohomish and the design and construction of brand new libraries and community-focused spaces through the Pacific Northwest.

CARNEGIE LIBRARY PROJECTS
Columbia City Library / Seattle WA
Fremont Library / Seattle WA
Green Lake Library / Seattle WA
Madrona Library / Seattle WA
Snohomish Library Renovation Study / Snohomish WA
University Library / Seattle WA
West Seattle Library / Seattle WA

ADDITIONAL LIBRARY PROJECTS
Bellevue Library Parking Expansion / Bellevue WA
Blaine Library / Blaine WA
Bozeman Library / Bozeman MT
Capitol Hill Library / Seattle WA
Cascade Park Library / Vancouver WA
Corvallis Library / Corvallis OR
Douglass-Truth Library / Seattle WA
Duvall Library / Duvall WA
Edmonds Library / Edmonds WA
Fort Vancouver Regional Library Service Center
Needs Assessment / Vancouver WA
Freeland Library / Freeland WA
Gladstone Library / Gladstone OR
Maple Valley Library / Maple Valley WA
Oak Lodge Library / Oak Grove OR
Philomath Library / Philomath OR
Richmond Beach Library / Richmond Beach WA
Shoreline Library / Shoreline WA
S’Klallam House of Knowledge Little Boston Library / Kingston WA
Sno-Isle Library Service Center / Marysville WA
South Park Library / Seattle WA
Winthrop Library, Winthrop WA