The Mary Vinson Memorial Library Annex project involves the adaptive reuse of the historic former Fowler Motors building to become new activity, meeting, and office space for the Mary Vinson Memorial Library as well as providing “incubator” office and workspace for the City of Milledgeville to use in attracting new entrepreneurial ventures to the area.
The building is located within the same block as the main library building, but can only be accessed by crossing several parking lots without a clearly-defined path. Later-phase planning for this project includes reconfiguring the parking lots and creating a safe travel zone between the main library and its new annex. Critical to this endeavor was the creation of a new entrance at the rear of the annex building.
The 1919 building was a first generation main street car dealership, and much of the original tin ceiling finishes and wall configurations of that period remain intact in the building. This historic legacy, though obscured by later conversion to city offices, has been restored and inspired the reconfiguration of the building to its new mixed use. All mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire suppression systems in the building were reconfigured and/or replaced as part of the work. Historic windows and interior finishes were reconditioned and restored, and long-overdue brick maintenance and roofing work was completed as well. The new library annex features 14-foot high historic tin ceilings at the East Hancock side of the building. These were the former showrooms for the car dealership. At the rear of the building, where the service bays were located, the character of the space is now more industrial, with exposed historic wood trusses at the roof and raw brick walls on three sides. New architectural interventions within these varied historic interiors are modern in character and create a visually-appealing juxtaposition of the current and historic uses of the building.
