A large district branch near Lawrence and Bathurst, Barbara Frum Library honours the famed CBC broadcaster and journalist who died of leukemia shortly before the library opened in 1992.
Barbara Frum’s library impressed me with its comfortable elegance, a composite of palm fronds, floral vine diamonds, high windows, and soaring ceilings. There were signs of wear and tear, such as graffiti in the study rooms, but it must be a challenge to keep such a large and busy branch in perfect condition.
I loved the dignified staircases to the second floor and third floors. The landing provided a grand perspective of the temple-like columns beside the main entrance.
The columned lounge on the east wing of the main level wowed me with its expansiveness and sweepingly high walls.
The Children’s Area in west wing did not disappoint either. I was especially charmed by a semi-circular window bench on the north wall. An informal puppet show must have recently taken place there, for a lone cow puppet lay discarded on the windowsill.
Whimsical decor prevailed in the Children’s Area, as manifested in tabletops with eyeballs in a dark forest and hand-painted chairs that invited sitters’ wrists to rest on flowers.
In addition to a playful spirit, the west wing housed a large multilingual collection that included French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Russian, Tagalog, Chinese, Somali, and Yiddish.
The main level of the branch is also home to the Jewish Mosaic Collection, which contains materials on “anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, Jewish biographies, music, Kosher cooking and literature” (TPL website on the JMC).
Thank you, Barbara Frum Library, for offering knowledge, classiness, palms, and quirky furniture, all of which help celebrate the memory of a Canadian media icon.