WINONA, Minn. –The Winona Public Library, one of the city’s architectural jewels, has had to closed off and on because of demolition at the old Winona Middle School auditorium next door. Chief librarian Lezlea Dahlke expressed special concern about the five-eighths-inch thick glass floor tiles in the stacks. In 1899 when the library was built and electrical lighting was unreliable, the glass tiles allowed light from the top of the building down to lower floors. Dahlke said the demolition contractor, Schwab Construction, has been alerting her weekly to vibrations and blasts that could affect utilities, electricity, water and internet. Might books be jiggled sand shaken off shelves in the stacks? Could library patrons be injured? “We were concerned,” Dahlke said. Some closures have been full weekdays and also occasional jackhammers.
Ongoing construction. The old junior high auditorium next to the library has been leveled, but pilings now are being pounded with heavy equipment into bedrock as foundation for the new Minnesota Masterpiece Hall. Image: Steve Lunde
Inside the dome. Priceless stained glass.
Underfoot. Translucent glass floors 5/8 of an inch thick.