A few years ago, architects designed a public library in Queens that was hailed as one of the most beautiful public buildings built in New York in a century. But it’s also riddled with obstacles for people with disabilities, according to city officials who are now suing the designers for the $10 million they say it will cost to fix.
At the Queens Public Library at Hunters Point, a staircase leading from the lobby to the second floor is the only way to access three areas with built-in desks with charging stations. A ramp leading to the rooftop terrace, which has expansive views of Manhattan, has an illegal slope, the city says. The bathrooms throughout the building don’t have enough room for wheelchairs, the lawsuit says.
The city estimates it would cost at least $10 million to bring the building into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and other federal, state, and local laws. Officials recently filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court against the firm, Steven Holl Architects, as well as Steven Holl and Christopher McVoy, a senior partner of Mr. Holl’s firm.
City officials have charged the architects with “breach of contract and professional malpractice.” The city’s legal department declined to comment beyond what is in the lawsuit.
A spokesman for the architectural firm called the lawsuit “meritorious” and noted that the city had “repeatedly agreed to our design.”
“Accessibility is a core value of our work,” John Gallagher, the spokesman, said in a statement.
The library — which is 22,000 square feet and 25 meters high — opened in September 2019 along the East River in Queens. Construction took ten years and cost more than $40 million.
The project encountered a number of difficulties along the way, including skepticism from officials in the Office of Management and Budget about the need for such an extravagant library. The resignation of the former Queens library president, a proponent of the project, delayed the project. So was a dockworkers’ strike in Spain that delayed glass shipments.
Once it opened, it was hailed as a feat of design. The library has huge windows that carve whimsical shapes of puzzle pieces from the concrete facade, offering spectacular views of Manhattan.
But soon after the opening of the building, concerns mounted.
In October 2019, the United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into whether the building complied with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The city is the subject of that investigation, as well as another investigation opened by the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
In November 2019, Tanya Jackson, a woman with mobility issues, and the Center for Independence of the Disabled filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court against the library, board of trustees, and the city.
“They built a monument to stairs,” said Sharon McLennon-Wier, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled.
Ms. McLennon-Wier, who is blind, said her organization and city officials have been negotiating design changes for the past two years. She said there were issues that could not be retrofitted and that parts of the library may need to be completely torn down and rebuilt.
“It’s a real shame,” she said. “This library was built in 2019. You wouldn’t think – ADA was passed in 1990 – that we would have such a new structure that has so many problems.”
Library staff have tried to make adjustments. The grand staircase leading from the lobby to the second floor has five adjoining spaces that initially contained bookshelves and desks. Because the elevator only provides access to two of the five areas, officials initially suggested librarians could simply pick up books for people who couldn’t access them.
But that solution drew criticism from disability advocates, and officials eventually moved all 2,900 adult fiction books to an accessible space on a different floor.
Still, people with disabilities in other areas of the library should ask for help retrieving books, Ms McLennon-Wier said.
“It’s demoralizing, because I’m a person with a disability myself — no one wants to be at someone’s mercy,” she said.
Neither the children’s area nor the roof terrace have room for wheelchair and attendant seats, which the city says is required by law.
Mr McVoy said in November 2019 that the terrace’s inaccessibility was a “minor wrinkle in an incredibly successful project”. He said accessibility concepts had changed since the building was designed.
The lawsuit also notes that the portion of the children’s area used for reading and storytelling cannot be reached by elevator. The library also has doors that, according to the municipality, are too narrow for wheelchairs.
Queens borough president Donovan Richards Jr. said in a statement that accessibility “wasn’t just a legal requirement; it is also a moral one.” He said the lawsuit would allow the city to recoup the costs that would allow it to meet that obligation.
Rosanne Anderson, who lives in Queens, said she visits the library at least once a week.
“It’s beautiful, but then I realized that with the stairs that go up in the different areas, even if you don’t use a wheelchair, it’s still hard to get up all those stairs,” she said.
Ms. Anderson, who said she was over 60 years old, said that’s why she usually just goes to the first floor of the library. “It really wasn’t a good idea to build this, spend so much money and then not be accessible to so many people,” she said.
Richard Emanuel, 39, visits the library at least once a week with his five-year-old daughter and was “overjoyed” when the library first opened.
But he soon realized its limitations. “There were accessibility issues and if you’re in a wheelchair you can’t get to certain floors,” he said. “In general, it’s a shame; it is a beautiful design.”