Construction on a medieval-style castle in downtown Phoenix is expected to begin next month.
Organizers of the Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation in Phoenix plan to begin construction Sunday, Feb. 13, on a three-story library designed to resemble an Irish castle. The library will be adjacent to the rest of the Irish Cultural Center at 1106 N. Central Ave.
The library will be 15,000 square feet, according to a city council report, and will house a collection of over 6,000 books that are currently held in the nearby Burton Barr Central Library, said Bridget Costello, president of Emerald Consulting. The library will also include a genealogy center where visitors will be able to explore their ancestry.
“The dream is that this will be a thoughtful center for the western United States, and that the four or five hundred thousand citizens in Arizona who are indirectly or directly related back to Ireland will find an opportunity to find out about their genealogy,” said Norman McClelland, CEO of Shamrock Foods Company and co-founder of the library.
The foundation raised $3.5 million in member contributions for the construction of the building after securing the city’s permission to build in 2007. They are still aiming to raise about $8 million over the next three to five years to keep it running in the future, Costello said.
Costello said she thinks the new library will attract more visitors to the center.
“I think it will have a significant impact on attracting people because of people’s interest in learning about their genealogy,” she said. “Especially ASU students, (who) will be able to come downtown and do some research, relax and read.”
But Costello said the addition will probably also draw attention visually.
“If you go down Central (Ave.), that’s the first thing that will catch your eye,” she said.
The new building was designed with a tall, fortress-like tower not only to resemble a castle, Costello said, but also to fit a large building into a relatively small space in front of the current center.
The new building will feature crenellations (the jagged, up-and-down ramparts along the tops of castles) and a castle-like exterior made from stones of varying sizes.
Work has already begun on the site of the future library. The center is having the trees removed from the area and will replant them after the building is finished.
The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13, at Margaret T. Hance Park on Central Ave., next to the Burton Barr Central Library.
Contact the author at john.l.fitzpatrick@asu.edu
