Detroit Public Library - Essay Example

After Carnegie’s generous donation to the city of Detroit, famous architect Cass Gilbert actually won a design contest for the Detroit Public Library, giving him the contract for new construction. Gilbert was famous for designing the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., another classically-inspired building. Due to lack of funds and lack of resources due to World War I, the Detroit Public Library was finally completed and dedicated in 1921 (Detroit Public Library, para.8). The exterior of the Detroit Public Library was constructed with Vermont marble and Italian imported marble (Detroit1701.org, para. 5), which paid tribute to earlier Italian Renaissance architectural style.

This style was chosen because the city of Detroit and the architect wanted to portray a strong perception of academics and higher learning in the building’s overall design, which appears to have befitted the general intention for constructing the massive Detroit library. The interior of the building is also Renaissance-inspired, consisting of a variety of gigantic, full-color murals which were painted by Detroit artists in the early 1920’s. Artist John Stephens Coppin painted a mural which represented the past, present and future of transportation and man’s divinely-inspired search for technological improvements.

Additionally, artist Gari Melchers created three murals one the main floor which depict a history of the city of Detroit, painted in 1921 (Bulanda, 1). All of the mural artists were hand-chosen to create artwork which would display the rich history and future of the city of Detroit. This massive representation of interior artwork was perfectly-fitting for a progressive Detroit which remained focused on education and these artists must have “instinctively known that inspiration and learning, the presumed goals of libraries, go hand in hand.

”1 This community drive toward education and self-improvement is likely the catalyst for why Cass Gilbert chose the