Apple wants to transform 1903 Carnegie building in D.C.
WASHINGTON — Steve Jobs made Apple into a top American retailer by designing crisp, modern stores with features reminiscent of the company’s products. Glass boxes and aluminum panels abounded.
But as Apple moves to turn its stores into experiences — places for concerts, art exhibitions and photography classes — the tech giant has begun to pursue distinctive yet familiar buildings that its customers might admire as well.
In Washington, Apple has set its sights squarely on the Carnegie Library in Mount Vernon Square. One of thousands of libraries built nationwide with funds donated by steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it opened in 1903 as the first desegregated public building in the city.
Apple officials say they plan to restore the building to its original grandeur and outfit Carnegie as a place to hold free concerts, art exhibitions, workshops for teachers and coding classes for children.
Trial programs at other Apple Stores have included presentations from community artists and photographers, as well as concerts and talks by bigger names — the hip-hop pro-
ducer RZA led an “Art of Beatmaking” session at the Apple Store in Brooklyn last fall. The company plans to release a schedule of events around the country this month.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to sell more iPhones and iPads. Where the Carnegie Library once housed the city’s book collection, Apple plans a Genius Grove, a tree-lined sales floor where associates will show customers how to make the best use of Apple products for music, photography or other passions. The Cupertino company already operates a Genius Grove in its flagship San Francisco Apple Store on Union Square.
“This is a way of creating a reason to come to the store, to touch and feel our products, but also to have an engaging experience with someone who is passionate about the same thing,” said B.J. Siegel, the senior design director for Apple’s retail division.
Finding historic buildings with stories rooted in their communities are part and parcel to the experience Apple is trying to create, Siegel said. The company has opened stores in a former restaurant bay in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, in a Depression-era brick storefront in Brooklyn, and in a 130-year-old former bank in Paris.
Rather than plastering the buildings with the familiar 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 signs 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.
“We’ve discovered that big, garish logos on historic buildings don’t work very well, so often we try to find more subtle ways to brand the building.”
That couldn’t be further from the failed strategy of the previous pursuit of the Carnegie Building. The International Spy Museum proposed moving into the building more than three years ago, but it sought to double the size of the 63,000-square-foot structure by adding two expansive, glass-encased wings. The Historic Preservation Review Board turned the proposal away.
Apple does plan to install a skylight in the Carnegie Building’s roof above a central events area, and there are bound to be questions about handing one of the city’s more cherished buildings to a corporation.
But there is wide agreement among officials that the Carnegie Building could be better used. Despite its visible location, it serves mainly as an office space for the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., and as a venue for the occasional wedding or reception organized by Events DC, which manages the building.
When Apple signed a letter of intent in December to lease the building, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a statement saying that an Apple Store there “could link D.C.’s rich history to our continued economic renaissance, will demonstrate the strength of our retail market, and will tell companies across the globe that the District is open for business.”
Even the Historical Society isn’t going anywhere; Siegel said that Apple considers it a benefit to have such a unique community institution as a neighbor, and that the organization would maintain offices on the second floor. Gregory O’Dell, president and chief executive of Events DC, said he is “working to support Apple with its plans as well as our partners in the Historical Society.”
Apple is scheduled to present its plans to the area’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission on Monday evening.
In New York, Apple picked up a historic preservation award for its work restoring the sort of buildings that, in Jobs’ era, it would not have considered.
Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president for retail, considers it essential to the company’s future that it be more than a place to buy things.
“Starbucks figured it out, for being a gathering place, right? ‘Meet me at Starbucks,’ ” Ahrendts told CBS in a recent interview.
“I’ve told my teams, I’ll know we’ve done a great job if the next generation ... says, ‘Meet me at Apple.’ ”