Aubrey Watzek Library, Academic library at Lewis & Clark College, Portland, United States.
Aubrey Watzek Library is a modernist building on the Lewis & Clark College campus designed in Pacific Northwest style, with concrete and glass construction. The structure rests on elevated piers and contains multiple floors with large windows that overlook campus gardens and a reflecting pool.
Paul Thiry designed the building, which opened in 1967. Hoffman Construction carried out renovations completed in the mid-1990s that doubled its size. The library is named after attorney and lumber baron Aubrey R. Watzek, whose papers are held there.
The library holds the literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in a special collections facility since 2001, and the William Stafford Archive, established there in 2008, keeps the papers of the poet who taught at the college. Aubrey R. Watzek, the attorney and lumber baron the building is named after, has his own papers stored here.
The building provides bright spaces for focused study with access to a large collection of books and online databases. Note that building access is primarily intended for college students and affiliated individuals.
During an archival assessment in 2016, staff unexpectedly found a rare copy of the 1599 Geneva Bible tucked away in the basement. The discovery revealed how valuable materials can be hidden in the building's lower levels.
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