Securing the Future

FAIN: CHA-261830-19

Mechanics' Institute (San Francisco, CA 94104-5003)
Ralph Lewin (Project Director: March 2018 to April 2019)
Bobbie Monzon (Project Director: April 2019 to October 2025)

A project to repair and restore the brick façades and steel framing of the 1910 Beaux-arts building that serves as the “hub” for approximately 175 programs each year; the Mechanics’ Institute houses a library of nearly 150,000 volumes, as well as an extensive digital collection focused on literature, California history, and Western Americana.

The Mechanics’ Institute, a Bay Area nonprofit offering a library and events, requests a $500,000 grant to restore the brick façades and steel framing of our building. Founded in 1854, MI is one of the oldest cultural institutions in the west. Our mission is to provide a center for cultural and educational advancement. We offer a robust library collection, of which approximately 65% is rooted in the humanities, and nearly 175 public events each year. Our 1910 nine-story building is steel-framed and reinforced with brick and sandstone. An engineering firm’s investigation of the building exterior found that steel framing had moisture infiltration and corrosion. Rusted steel has displaced the masonry, causing cracks, increasing the opportunity for more water to reach the steel. The building exterior must be repaired and a grant award from the NEH is critical to the repair and restoration effort.