Nokomis Library
| Nokomis Library | |
|---|---|
The renovated front of the library, along 51st Street
|
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| Former names | Nokomis Community Library |
| General information | |
| Type | Branch library |
| Location |
5100 34th Ave S. |
| Coordinates | 44°54′37.89″N 93°13′23.69″W / 44.9105250°N 93.2232472°WCoordinates: 44°54′37.89″N 93°13′23.69″W / 44.9105250°N 93.2232472°W |
| Construction started | 1967 |
| Completed | 1968 |
| Renovated | 2009–2011 |
| Renovation cost | $7 million |
| Owner | Hennepin County Library System |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 2 |
| Floor area | 17,340 square feet (1,611 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Buetow and Associates, Inc. |
| Renovating team | |
| Architect | KKE Architects |
| Renovating firm | Ebert, Inc. |
| Other information | |
| Parking | 17,700-square-foot (1,644 m2) surface lot |
5100 34th Ave S.
Nokomis Library, formerly Nokomis Community Library, is a branch library serving the Nokomis East area of Minneapolis, Minnesota. One of 41 libraries in the Hennepin County Library System, Nokomis was designed by Buetow and Associates, Inc and opened in 1968 as a replacement for the nearby Longfellow Community Library. After being deemed crowded and outdated in 1999, the library underwent a renovation beginning in 2009 that saw it gain a number of environmentally friendly features and an expansion of 4,300 square feet (399 m2). The building reopened in 2011 and includes a restored Wind and Water Chime, a stabile that was part of the original library and that was refurbished and reinstalled by July 2013. The library contains over 35 computers, a public meeting room, and a Spanish-language collection of materials.
Nokomis was the newest branch added to the Minneapolis Public Library system in 1967; the previous one was the Linden Hills Community Library, which was completed in 1931. It was built to replace the former Longfellow Community Library that had served the Nokomis East area for many years. In 1967, the City of Minneapolis had Buetow and Associates, Inc design the new library building, which was modeled after a tepee from the poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Additionally, the library was named for Nokomis in said poem, making the branch the only library in the system to be named after a fictional character. The library featured a reading loft, basement meeting room, and 13,426 square feet (1,247 m2). Construction on it began in 1967 and concluded the next year. The project utilized limestone produced by Mankato Kasota Stone, a local stone company quarrying in the Minnesota River Valley that had been responsible for providing stone for Minneapolis's Stone Arch Bridge. The library opened in September 1968 and immediately doubled the circulation of the old Longfellow branch.
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