When a small fire started at his residence in 1923, William Andrews Clark Jr., a Los Angeles-based philanthropist, decided that a new structure utilizing best practices for withstanding earthquakes and fire — as well at cutting edge temperature and humidity control — must be built to house his growing collection of printed books and manuscripts. Thus, the Clark Library was born.
Today, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at the University of California, Los Angeles is a rare book and manuscript library that is open to all who wish to conduct research with its holdings. Located in a 1926 Beaux Arts building, the library was listed as a Los Angeles City Historic-Cultural Monument in 1964.
Strengthening With Sensitivity
In 2015, the library underwent a major renovation to improve seismic resilience and meet Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. As part of the seismic retrofit for the historic unreinforced masonry building, WSP Building Structures developed a minimally invasive center core strengthening technique. This approach includes coring a hole within the unreinforced masonry, installing a steel reinforcing bar in the hole and anchoring it to the foundation, then filling the hole with grout to strengthen the masonry.
Using this technique accomplished a comprehensive seismic retrofit without removing or altering the historically significant ceiling and interior and exterior wall finishes, such as hand-carved travertine, marble and wood veneer finishes and hand-sculpted and painted plaster. Through careful structural design, architectural impacts were limited to the removal and replacement of a two-foot strip of existing clay roof tiles along the roof perimeter.
