A.K. Smiley Public Library Tower
Redlands, CA

The A.K. Smiley Public Library Tower reconstruction project represents the best of what can be accomplished by combining preservation expertise, civic generosity, and state-of-the-art technology. The A.K. Smiley Public Library was originally constructed in 1898 with a donation from Albert K. Smiley, a New York resident, who had adopted Redlands as his winter home.

Heritage's preservation team, consisting of a conservator, architect, and an ornamentation expert, used old and new resources to bring the previously removed tower back. Two unique restored features of the tower are the clay mission tile roof and sculpted frieze panels below the eaves. The roof tiles are notable because they had to be hand-made in over a dozen different shapes and sizes to follow the tapering, S-curved roof shape.

The missing frieze was not clearly visible in historic photographs, so another design source was necessary to direct a sculptor to recreate the pieces from new glass fiber reinforced concrete. During research, the restoration team discovered that the frieze design was based on a Beaux Arts nautilus shell pattern that could be seen in a photograph of the Palatine Gallery in Italy.

The final touch on the tower was the replication of the spun copper finial at the apex of the roof. The three-and-a-half foot tall finial had to be recreated solely from historic photographs and computer modeling. Metal craftsmen were brought onboard to create a seamless new finial out of copper sheeting. The completed finial gleams in the intense Redlands sun, awaiting its final greenish patina.