It was in September of last year that we first heard that Apple was in talks to open an Apple Store in Washington D.C.’s famous Carnegie Library, with more details emerging later in the year. The company has now revealed more of its plans as it prepares for a presentation this evening …
While some are concerned about handing over control of a historic building for use as a retail store, Apple says that its plans are respectful of both the appearance and current role of the building.
It does propose to open a large glass skylight, and showed an artist’s rendering of this.
Rather than plastering the buildings with the company’s logo, Apple’s designers say they will focus on restoring the building’s historic character. It can take a little work to find the store’s signage and logo — which is the point.
“For us, it wasn’t about coming in and leaving our mark,” Siegel said. “It was about bringing the history back out and respecting it.”
The piece cites New York’s Grand Central Terminal, a Depression-era brick storefront in Brooklyn and a 130-year-old former bank in Paris as past examples of Apple designing its store in sympathy with historic buildings.
The company’s plans are backed by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser.
Apple will this evening be presenting those plans to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission.
