From 1921 to 1977, Main Street Library was known as Eastern Branch. Even though it opened the same year as Dufferin/Saint Clair and three years before Gerrard/Ashdale, Main Street didn’t resemble its 1920′s cohorts when I looked at it from the outside. A well-intentioned renovation in 1977 had produced the glass and red metal entrance, a somewhat Legotastic look that contradicted Chief Librarian George Locke‘s original vision of “English domestic architecture” (A Century of Service: Toronto Public Library 1883-1983, page 26). It’s difficult to imagine an English cottage, for example, with a bright red triangle over its weathered, ivy-covered door, but my notion of traditional cottages might be overly influenced by Beatrix Potter.
What the front lobby might have lacked in historical character, it made up for in playful angles and arches. I appreciated all the interesting corners on the first floor, such as the light-filled reading lounge visible through the arch (pictured below), as well as the 1928 south extension with its powder blue walls. The main floor also yielded a large central room and a north wing devoted to adult non-fiction (also painted powder blue). With so many windows and open spaces, the inside appeared much bigger than I had expected.
Despite my initial disappointment with the tacked-on modernity of the entrance, a trip to the top floor restored my image of Main Street as a heritage branch. The wooden ceiling even smelled pleasantly old!
I must not have been in full library quest groove on my first visit to Main Street several years ago, because I didn’t even walk up to the upper level then. What was I thinking? It all worked out for the best, though, as it meant that I got to experience the delightful attic for the first time last Saturday. Once I saw it, I could immediately sense its historical kinship to Gerrard/Ashdale branch. Two 1920′s attics, beautifully connected!
The south wing of Main Street’s attic featured exposed brick walls, long wooden tables, and dignified window frames, giving this home for older children’s books and the kids’ French collection a scholarly yet comfortable atmosphere. Warming the bricks of the east wall was a quilt stitched in honour of Toronto’s 1984 Sesquicentennial, the same occasion that inspired the quilt at Beaches Library. Without the thematic flow between each section that characterized the Beaches tapestry, the one at Main Street lent itself to individual panel study. My top three favourites depicted a mule pulling a Canada Bread cart, an abstract row house, and Fire Station #17.
As I was taking pictures of the textile art, I enjoyed the lively sounds of families using the library. One attentive mom was listening to her child read a counting book while another prompted a young reader to respond to an illustration, “Is that a squirrel? Is she painting with her tail?” This parent was sitting in the north wing, which contained inviting armchairs in front of dormer windows and some steps leading to a reading nook under the west eave.
It made me happy to see 21st-century families gather around books under the slanted beams of an early 20th-century attic. After all, what happens inside the library is more important than the shape of its front door. I think George Locke would be proud to know that Eastern Branch is still fulfilling its purpose eighty-nine years after it opened!
