Ayers Saint Gross, Beyer Blinder Bell, EverGreenArchitectural Arts

As befits the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s stature as one of Baltimore’s most important historic landmarks and one of the oldest free libraries in the country, the library’s three-year, $115-million renovation completed last year employed a trio of the nation’s better-known and experienced architectural firms.

Those firms included:

• Ayers Saint Gross, an architectural firm started in Baltimore in 1912 and with other offices in Washington, D.C and Tempe, Arizona, was the managing architect for the Pratt project. Since the 1980s, Ayers has focused on higher education projects, and has worked on campus buildings across the country and as far afield as Saudi Arabia, China and Malaysia.
• Beyer Blinder Bell, an international architectural firm based in New York City, was the project’s lead architect. Founded in 1968, the firm’s projects include the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the Washington Monument’s visitor facility and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In Washington.
• EverGreene Architectural Arts was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in New York, with offices in Chicago, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. The firm’s website describes EverGreene as “the nation’s largest specialty contractor of architectural arts,” and its projects have included the Empire State Building Lobby, New York Public Library and the U.S. Capitol Building.

At Enoch Pratt, EverGreene restored and conserved more than 10 rooms, lobbies, foyers, hallways and stacks.