St. Louis Public Library remodel on time and budget

On time, and on budget.

Those are the five words St. Louis Public Library executive director Waller McGuire is most excited to say about the $70 million renovation of the library's headquarters building.

Contractors have mainly been working on a "surgical demolition" of interior walls of the 99-year-old building, McGuire says. The big thing underway right now is a complete redo of the stack tower - a seven-story, block-long structure that housed the library's collection.

"It no longer met modern code, there were many issues with it. It had to be completely rebuilt within the existing building," he says. 

The project involves complicated structural work, McGuire says, but there have been no surprises - at least structurally - thanks to years of investigation.

Workers have found some interesting historical tidbits, though - like an 1856 book entitled Female Physiology in an old vault.

"And in 1856 that was a book that was not allowed in public spaces, it was kept very carefully behind the librarian’s desk and had been hidden away up there for 100 years," he says.

A bond sale and fundraising by the library's foundation are paying the cost.

Click on the images above to see photos of work in progress and the end result.