A temporary roof will be installed on the charred Georgetown Neighborhood Library this week, while historic documents pulled from the facility are drying in a vacuum chamber and the D.C. Council has allotted money to repair the branch.
The 72-year-old library at 3265 R St., which sustained serious damage during an April 30 three-alarm fire, is the focus of major work by a number of contractors who hope to save the building and the valuable documents and artwork stored in the branch’s Peabody Room.
The Minkoff Co. is clearing debris, protecting original woodwork, stabilizing the building and installing the temporary roof. Belfor Property Restoration, meanwhile, “estimates there is a 100 percent chance that none of the wet books and materials they recovered from the Peabody Room will develop mold because they were placed in a freezer truck within 48 hours,” according to a library system news release.
Immediately after the fire was extinguished, Belfor workers moved in and collected dozens of boxes of materials, many of which have since been moved to a vacuum chamber at the company’s Fort Worth, Texas, office. The drying should take six to eight weeks.
On Tuesday, the D.C. Council set aside $6.5 million to start work immediately on rebuilding the library and Eastern Market, which another fire destroyed the same day. Another $33 million will be allocated in a supplemental budget.
Mayor Adrian Fenty commended council members “for dedicating funds for the reconstruction of the historic Eastern Market and Georgetown Public Library, a proposal I thought was critically necessary for the District and the communities affected by fires.”
Once the temporary roof is in place, contractors will dry the building’s interior. Only after all moisture is gone can the library “estimate permanent damage to the building and determine what it will take to restore it,” according to the library system.
The library expects to use the Jelleff Boys and Girls Club’s parking lot, one block from the library, as the site to operate a bookmobile.
