In a tree-lined Ward 3 neighborhood, one chapter is about to end as another begins.

Come 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the current Cleveland Park Library will forever shutter while the District prepares the site for redevelopment into a “spectacular and iconic” new building. D.C. Public Library says the renovated facility—construction is expected to begin this winter—will open in mid-2018, and boast wood finishes, more windows, and what will be the largest meeting space across DCPL, able to accommodate more than 200 people and be divided into two rooms. The eventual building will also have private study rooms, an outdoor reading garden, and two second-story balconies. 

Firms Gilbane and Perkins Eastman are executing the redesign, which is estimated to cost approximately $20 million. Starting Oct. 31, an interim library will serve the community from the University of the District of Columbia campus, at 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW, less than a mile from the contemporary library at 3310 Connecticut Ave. NW. The Historic Preservation Review Board (which has a say because most of Cleveland Park is designated a historic district) and the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission have both approved the plans.

In case you’ve put a book on hold at the Cleveland Park Library, DCPL says you can pick it up there by the end of the day Saturday before it’s moved to the Tenley-Friendship Library at 4450 Wisconsin Ave. NW next Tuesday. It will be one of several new additions to DCPL’s portfolio, which includes the recently opened, $16 million Woodridge Library in Ward 5. Preliminary renderings of the future Cleveland Park Library appear below, courtesy of DCPL.