Rapid City, SD (2024)
You’re looking at the new home of CO-OP Rapid City. This downtown gem was the 20th Carnegie Library to be built in South Dakota, completed in 1915 thanks to a $12,500 grant. Our renovation cost…more than that.
The original structure was smaller than today’s; a WPA project in 1938 added two recessed wings of identical style, with matching yellow limestone, columns to mimic the portico entrance, and the same entablature along the roof. When, in 1971, Rapid City constructed a new public library, this building became home to the police department.
Eventually, another design firm set up shop in the old library and officed there for many years. When they announced plans to build a new office in Rapid City, we jumped at the opportunity to make the Carnegie building our new home, partly to accommodate our growth and partly to honor and protect our architectural past. The renovation was a light touch: fresh paint, fixtures, and finishes, but otherwise letting the historic building do the talking.
