The architect and designer of the Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, Michael Graves, died from natural causes on March 12, 2015. In his honor, Beatley Central Library has devoted a memorial table of his work along with a feature on the Alexandria Library website. The display includes blueprints of Graves’ library designs for Beatley, books written by Graves, and a three- dimensional model of the library, to name a few.
Graves was born on July 9, 1934 and has designed architectural structures across the world, including the Denver Public Library (Denver, Colo.), the Dolphin Resort at Walt Disney World (Orlando, Fla.), and the American Academy in Rome Rare Books Library (Rome, Italy).
In 1995, Graves submitted his architectural drawings to the City of Alexandria with hopes of having his work chosen for the newest Alexandria library facility.
Three years later, in 1998, during the groundbreaking event, Graves was in attendance, along with other city officials. “It was always my goal to ‘up the ante’ on good design, and I’ve devoted much of my career to this,” Graves said at the time.
Visit www.alexandria.lib.va.us to read more about the history of Beatley’s architect.