By December 1999 the WPA murals in the LaGuardia Reading Room had been fully protected, following the advice of Kenneth Moser, conservator for the Brooklyn Museum of Art, who cleaned and restored them in the late 80s. Filters were installed in the plastic enclosures constructed for the murals (which are integral parts of the walls and cannot be removed), permitting air circulation yet blocking the introduction of dust. Photographs of the four panels were taken before work began in the reading room area, in order to document their condition at the start of construction.
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By February 2000 the skin or façade of the 1959 addition to LaGuardia Hall had been removed, making way for new brickwork that would match the original Library building. An old steam tunnel was demolished and utilities to the construction site were rerouted. The interior demolition of the existing building was complete, but asbestos removal continued as new pockets were discovered. Floor cracks were found in the slab of Gideonse, the 1959 addition. After testing proved the floors to be structurally sound, they were reinforced in order to prevent cracking in the final finishes that would later be applied.
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In May 2000 an enormous Manitowoc crawler crane appeared on the Project site. With its 165' boom and 165' jib, it dominated the landscape. (It is called a crawler crane because of its capability of lifting 240,000 pounds at a time, and "crawling" away with it!) The crane and its operator worked hard throughout the summer, loading materials onto the new building. During its disassembly in the fall, a piece of the crane broke loose and fell to the ground, miraculously injuring no one and nothing, save a small corner of one of the two construction trailers.
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In December 2000 the College decided to delay the Library's move into the new building until the fall 2001 (rather than the summer, as originally planned), so that we would open for business in our new quarters at the start of the spring semester 2002. The Project delays were unavoidable, and no one's "fault." From the start, the Library Project had a very ambitious schedule, although a "time cushion" had been built in to allow for the usual construction setbacks. However, the Project experienced delays that would have been very hard to foresee--greater levels of asbestos abatement and unanticipated cracks in the Gideonse addition's slab. The final factor was very cold fall and winter weather, which slowed the brickwork. (Mortar is largely water, and it freezes.)
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These events led to doubt that the building could be completed, and that we could move in, in time to open for business on September 1, 2001. President Kimmich expressed concern about the safety of staff, readers, and collections. Many people recalled the premature and chaotic opening of the new CUNY Graduate Center, so thoroughly and embarrassingly covered in the press. Everyone involved in the Project agreed that it was best to plan to open the new building at the start of the spring semester, 2002, rather than to push strenuously for fall 2001 and perhaps miss the target. The move back will begin in October 2001, while staff continue to deliver service from our four temporary locations. The Library will close during intersession 2002, to accommodate the final stage of the move and the cut-over of our telecommunications systems.
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