Southwest Neighborhood Library

The Southwest Neighborhood Library is a branch of the District of Columbia Public Library in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is located at 900 Wesley Place SW.^[1]

Southwest Neighborhood Library
The new library in 2021.
38.878692°N 77.015980°W / 38.878692; -77.015980
Location	900 Wesley Place SW, Washington, DC 20024, United States
Type	Public library
Branch of	District of Columbia Public Library
Other information
Website	https://www.dclibrary.org/southwest

History

The exterior of the library in 2017.

The library first opened in 1940 as part of the then-new Thomas Jefferson Memorial Junior High School, a Georgian Revival-style building designed by architect Nathan C. Wyeth, at 701 7th St. SW.^[2] A new library building opened in 1965^[3] and closed in June 2019, with a new $18 million building to be constructed in its place.^[4][5][6] During construction, interim library service was provided at 425 M Street SW.^[4]

The interior of the new Southwest Neighborhood Library in 2021.

The new 20,000-square-foot building, which opened in May 2021, was designed by Perkins and Will and built by Turner Construction.^[6] Built primarily out of mass timber and glass, it was produced in pieces in Vancouver and shipped to Washington, where it was assembled.^[6]

Though it is one floor shorter than the old building, the new library was designed with a focus on community space.^[5][6] It includes a large meeting room, three conference rooms, and four study rooms, as well as an outdoor porch. New technology incorporated in the rebuilt library includes an innovation lab with 3-D printers, as well as solar panels that provide for half of the building's energy needs.^[5][6] The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation also collaborated with the library to improve the playground adjacent to the building.^[6]