Those of us who live in Ravenna could be excused for feeling the new Central Library has been getting all the publicity, at the expense of our own $4.7 million renovation of the North East Branch.

Indeed, Paul Thiry’s Northwest Modernist building has never looked better, despite the doubling in size of his original 1954 design. Though Thiry was the principle architect of what would become the Seattle Center, here he was working with lower-key materials and designs to fit into an existing residential neighborhood. There’s plenty of space for reading in Starbucks-esque armchairs, as well as great light from both the large view windows as well as the er, Starbucks-esque light fixtures:

On our visits we’ve never encountered the maurading teenagers who forced a shutdown of the entire building in 1961 — yet another case of this generation failing to live up to the standards of the Baby Boomers.