What does a $40 million dollar library look like? At a preview tour of the newly renovated Mission Branch Library at 3359 24th Street, workers rushed back and forth organizing, cleaning and setting up furniture ahead of the reopening Saturday.
“Historically, Mission has been one of the busiest branch libraries in the city,” said Michael Lambert, the city’s librarian. “This place is going to be full of youth and families and seniors being enriched through all of the library’s myriad programs.”
The building smells new. The large wooden window frames have been restored, the original bookcases are still in place and the main entrance on 24th Street has been rebuilt. The renovation added a separate room where teens can read and do their homework — a necessity in a neighborhood where quiet study space can be hard to come by. There’s also a large new community room available for local groups to meet in; District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder has already signed up to use it for a community meeting next month.
“I am thrilled …we finally have a renewed state-of-the-art building that our residents deserve,” read a statement from Fielder.
At the time construction began, in August 2023, the project was estimated to last two years. But “unforeseen circumstances” and the loss of a subcontractor added an extra year to the timeline.
The project’s cost to date is $40.7 million, up from an initial estimate of $19.8 million in 2018, when the renovation and seismic retrofit of the structure was first announced.
For that amount of money, the building should look good—and it delivers. The landmark 111-year-old library, San Francisco’s first neighborhood branch and one of seven Carnegie libraries built across the city, looks pristine. The grand staircase facing the 24th Street entrance, which had been removed in 1997, has been restored to its original splendor. And ‘Nopal de la Mision,’ a stained-glass window by local artist Juana Alicia, shines.
“[The nopal] is a symbol of resistance under difficult conditions,” said Alicia. “A tree that blooms in the desert and serves as sustenance, and regenerates easily.”
The library will re-open this Saturday, with an afternoon celebration including music, crafts, Aztec dancers, luchadores, a building tour and refreshments, beginning with a ribbon-cutting at 12:30 p.m.
