Astoria Public Library Slated For Multimillion-Dollar Upgrade

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The Astoria public library is slated to receive a multimillion-dollar upgrade that will make the building fully accessible and add new community spaces, officials announced this week.

Preliminary plans unveiled Monday call for an elevator, an entrance ramp and new vestibule, new furniture, new floors, new lighting, new computers and a new cyber center, new energy-efficient windows, a new heating and air-conditioning system, a new children's room, a new reading area and a new multipurpose room for community events, according to the New York City Department of Design and Construction.

The upgrades will bring the library, at 14-01 Astoria Blvd., into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As part of the renovation, professional art conservators will remove, clean, restore and re-install two murals by the artist Max Spivak that are on display in the library.

Nearly $9 million in City Council funding will go to the renovation, according to City Council Member Costa Constantinides' office.

Construction is not scheduled to begin this year. Instead, officials will spend the year presenting the renderings and floor plans to community members.

"This is a branch that has been in our community for quite some time, but, as you all know, it’s needed some love," Constantinides said during a virtual presentation Monday. "This library is a major hub for so many in our community."

The library, which dates back to 1904, was built as part of the Carnegie Library endowment.

Its Flemish Revival architecture was "quite unique at the time" but was "heavily modified through the decades," according to Anthony Romeo, who works on Queens public library projects for the city's Department of Design and Construction.

The renovation is intended to make the library "a more inspiring and inviting space that is accessible to all,” Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott said.

It is also part of a $25 million investment in the section of Astoria that falls west of 21st Street, in an effort to remedy "generations of underinvestment," according to Constantinides.

"We need to be investing west of 21st street and investing in our infrastructure," he said.

Check out the full New York City Department of Design and Construction presentation here: