Library/museum expansion guidelines approved

Last Tuesday, the Riverside City Council approved in concept the recommendations for the future expansions of downtown’s Main Library and Riverside Metropolitan Museum as outlined by a community task force.

The recommendations, which have also been endorsed by the governing boards of both institutions, call for the library to double in size to 120,000 square feet and the museum expansion to total 70,000 square feet. The task force also recommended the final proposal should provide adequate parking facilities and retain the Chinese Pavilion in its current spot.

The approvals come after several months of public hearings that began following a public meeting held in January on the original joint-use expansion proposal. Public opposition to the plan led to the formation of a 22-member task force that was given the job of revising the original proposal.

Next up will be two workshops — an October meeting to formalize actual space needs and a second set for November to discuss design and funding aspects.

On the heels of the approval, a related newspaper article debates the value of preserving Riverside’s Mid-Century Modern architecture. Tanya Sorrell, the creator of ModernRiverside.com, states in the article that it’s time to start looking at which modern buildings are worthy of saving, citing both the library and downtown fire station as examples:

Landmarks and other buildings designated as historic are protected by the city’s laws, which make it harder to alter or demolish them.

Resident Tanya Sorrell wants to stretch the list of protected buildings to include works of midcentury modern architecture, a style in vogue from just after World War II to about 1970.

… It’s time for the city to begin discussing which of the buildings are worth preserving, she said.

“I’m trying to get people used to the idea that these are becoming historic. We have the ability to save the best ones now,” said Sorrell, who has a master’s degree from UC Riverside in public history and historic preservation.

Riverside Press-Enterprise – August 13, 2008

We wholeheartedly agree — before it’s too late and these building’s suffer the same shortsighted, generational thinking that allowed Riverside’s Carnegie library to be demolished.

(2025 UPDATE: After several years — and a few different concepts — deciding whether to renovate, expand, or relocate the downtown library, plans finally moved forward in February 2016 to build a new library. Located three blocks to the west on the same street (Mission Inn Avenue) as its predecessor, designs for the new Main Library were approved in October 2017. Construction began in March 2019 with completion in February 2021. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, opening to the public was delayed until June 2021. The 1964/65 Mid-Century Modern library was then renovated into the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture — aka “The Cheech” — that opened in June 2022 as a companion to the Riverside Art Museum. And groundbreaking for an expanded Riverside Metropolitan Museum — renamed Museum of Riverside in 2019 — took place in June 2025, with completion and reopening expected sometime in 2027.)

Related

Riverside Press-Enterprise – Council approves task force advice (August 13, 2008) | Historic value of modern buildings debated (August 13, 2008)

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com – Library/museum task force produces ‘guiding principles’ for separate expansions (June 2008) | Task force favors separate library, museum expansions (June 2008) | Library-museum task force convenes (April 2008) | Library should remain downtown (July 2007)

Sources: Riverside Press-Enterprise (PE-20080813), RaincrossSquare.com

2025 PAGE UPDATE: Removed/updated outdated links; added newspaper citation/insert; added Related articles; added 2025 update.