Saving the saucer isn’t getting much institutional support.
An article in this month’s Hyattsville Life and Times notes architect Melanie Hennigan of Grimm + Parker was “noncommittal” about keeping the Hyattsville library’s iconic entryway.
“It’s a challenge,” she said. “It’s definitely too big to be used inside. It’s a monolithic piece, not something that you can pick up and move easily. It would be very expensive to do that.”
The article also notes that library officials aren’t too keen on it:
Library officials, though, are less attached to it. “My biggest concern is that the architect said [moving] it would be very expensive,” said Catherine Hollerbach, area manager for the Hyattsville, New Carrollton, Bladensburg and Mount Rainier libraries. “I’d rather see the money spent on books and materials.”
PGCMLS director Kathleen Teaze agreed, adding, “How much damage would be done to it if we tried to move it?”
This seems like a bit of a straw man argument, though. The easiest and cheapest solution is to leave the saucer where it is and tear down the rest of the building.
Even if the new building is on a different part of the property, the saucer could remain as a sort of grand objet d’art.
