Projects by Name

Recognizing a lack of library facilities in their community, Dexter Ferry, Jr. and Murray Sales donated money for the creation of a public library. Ferry's son had been a student of Breuer and Gropius at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, and Breuer had already designed a house for Ferry's daughter, Edith Ferry Hooper. He was also in the process of building the Ferry Cooperative Dormitory at Vassar College, another building made possible by a donation from Ferry. Breuer utilized materials that echoed those found in the neighborhood, namely red-brick cladding and white-trimmed window, but the structural supports along with the floor and roof slabs were reinforced concrete. A paved terrace in front of the entrance was delineated by Bush-hammered concrete walls. Breuer employed a consultant from the Detroit Public Library to develop the program. A large, light-filled general reading from had a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows subdivided into four bays on the entrance facade. Smaller rooms devoted to more specific programming - adult room, children's room, reference room, etc. - ringed the reading room and were lit by narrow slit windows cut into the brick walls. Upstairs spaces housed staff spaces, stacks and an exhibition room. Breuer also designed much of the furniture for the library, including an imposing boomerang-shaped teak desk that confronted the visitor upon entering the building. Air-conditioning proved to be necessary after the library opened to the public in January of 1953, requiring some small changes to the design.