When Carmel first went looking for a place to hold its library during the Harrison Memorial Library restoration, the Carmel Youth Center was on the list and then dropped. The city's ad hoc committee in 2025 included members of the Library Board of Trustees, the Carmel Public Library Foundation and city staff. It found that the space the Youth Center could offer wasn't a good fit. It also decided that putting "a primarily adult-serving program" inside a youth center wasn't workable.
This month the Youth Center becomes the first move in the restoration anyway. It isn't taking Harrison's collection. It's taking the children's library, which is leaving the Park Branch. The city decided to restore its 1928 landmark by first moving a different branch. That choice, and why the city made it, says more about the next two years of Carmel library service than any rendering of the new north entrance.
The Plan That Came First
The first temporary library had a different home. On July 6, 2026, the City Council approved a lease for Carlson Hall at the Church of the Wayfarer on Lincoln Street, a 2,000-square-foot space one block from Harrison Memorial. The Carmel Pine Cone reported a rent of $6,250 a month for up to 24 months. The city would also cover its share of utilities, trash service and the needed tenant improvements. The council passed it on the consent calendar without discussion, and nobody commented.
Acting City Administrator Brandon Swanson told the Pine Cone the hall's size and layout would let the city "establish a library that continues to provide meaningful services to residents of all ages, including dedicated space for teens."
That plan didn't hold. The city's November staff report says the church "was determined to be no longer viable" because of what the tenant improvements would cost. The Pine Cone's Oct. 30 agenda preview described the same problem as "the extent of the required tenant improvements." The Foundation then went back to the city and asked it to look at the Youth Center again. Staff, the Foundation and the Youth Center identified the Bayview room, or gym, as a possible site.
Why the Children's Books Move Instead
The second look came with a change in what would move. The staff report, submitted by Library Director Heather Cousin, says staff decided that "rather than move the Harrison collections and staff to the location, moving the Youth collections and staff from the Park Branch would better align the objectives of both organizations."
That addresses the 2025 objection directly. An adult-focused library in a youth center didn't fit. A youth library in a youth center does. The report also says Youth Services staff and the Youth Center "have consistently collaborated on programming," and that sharing a space should create more of those chances.
Here are the two plans side by side:
| Carlson Hall, Church of the Wayfarer | Carmel Youth Center | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Lincoln Street, a block from Harrison | Torres Street and Fourth Avenue |
| Space | About 2,000 square feet | Foyer, family restroom and more than 2,000 square feet of shared library and program space |
| What moves in | A temporary library for all ages | Youth Services collections and staff from Park Branch |
| Monthly rent | $6,250, paid by taxpayers | $5,250 in year one, $5,407.50 in year two |
| Who pays rent | The city | Mainly the Carmel Public Library Foundation |
| Status | Dropped over tenant-improvement costs | Lease approved by the City Council on Nov. 3, 2026 |
The money moved along with the location. Under the Wayfarer deal, taxpayers paid the rent. Under the Youth Center lease, the Foundation pays it as part of the Harrison Memorial Library project, and the city covers utilities and staff time from its existing FY 2026–2027 budget.
What a Family Visit Looks Like at Torres and Fourth
The lease gives the library about 40 percent of the Youth Center building for two years. The Youth Center keeps running its own programs in the rest. The foyer will be the library's welcome and checkout desk, and there will be a dedicated family restroom. The library, the Youth Center and the Youth Center's contracted classes will share more than 2,000 square feet.
The shared space changes the hours. The Youth Center's contracted classes start at 5:30 p.m., so the youth library will be open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Because the classes meet after the library closes, books and equipment won't need to be moved around them. The city's library contact page currently lists the Park Branch Children's Library at Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. For families, the new schedule means closing an hour earlier on weekdays and no Saturday hours.
The building also has a public-safety role. A separate amended ground lease approved the same night notes that the Youth Center was founded in 1949, owns its building, and opened it as an emergency warming center during the 2025 power outage. It sits next to the Police Department and runs on a city-supplied generator. The amended lease runs through Oct. 31, 2039, at a dollar a year, paid as a lump sum of $13. It also lets the city store emergency supplies on site. The library's temporary home is also the city's warming center.
The Building Setting the Schedule
The Youth Center move is the first step in a two-year restoration of Harrison Memorial Library. Carmel has had library service since 1906, but the building at Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Street opened in 1928. The city credits local builder M.J. Murphy with designing and building it, with input from Bernard Maybeck. It was paid for by Ella Reid Harrison's bequest in memory of her husband, Ralph Chandler Harrison. The centennial coming up in 2028 is the building's.
The Carmel Pine Cone's September report put the rehabilitation at $17.5 million and said it should be done in time for the 2028 centennial. The Planning Commission and Historic Resources Board approved the design at a joint meeting on Sept. 9. Architect Chris Hamilton of Moore Ruble Yudell told that meeting the biggest change would come on the north side. That side was expanded in 1949 and, in the Pine Cone's words, "lost many of its welcoming attributes in the process." He told the commissioners:
"The second entry feels so much like a back door at the moment. We really wanted to bring that same sense of arrival for folks with accessibility challenges."
According to the Pine Cone and the city's approved plans, the work includes:
- A new north entrance, designed by a team led by partner Buzz Yudell, that draws on the large arched windows and other features removed for the 1949 addition
- An elevator, a chair lift, accessible restrooms and rebuilt interior stairs and handrails
- A walkway carved through the garden to Ocean Avenue so visitors can skip the stairs
- Clay roof tiles taken off for new waterproofing and then put back, plus copper gutters, which the city generally prohibits but can allow on historic buildings
- New cantilevered columns built to seismic standards, replacing several installed on the east side in 1974
- New sprinkler and fire-alarm systems and a new basement mechanical room
- Three wood windows in the 1940s addition replaced and the other windows reglazed in their existing frames
According to the plans, the building's use and footprint stay the same. One piece of the project reaches into the street. On the north side, where people are expected to gather, the plans call for a landscaped bulb-out into Sixth Avenue for "more breathing room." The Pine Cone reported that the planter will remove a parking space and could affect traffic on busy Sixth Avenue.
The city's Nov. 2 staff report says the Carmel Public Library Foundation is paying for permitting, inspections, technical reports, design and construction. The city's outreach and hearing costs come out of existing department budgets. The Foundation is paying for both the restoration of Harrison Memorial and the rent for the temporary children's library on Torres Street.
The Dates So Far
- Sept. 9, 2026: The Planning Commission and Historic Resources Board approved the design at a joint meeting.
- Nov. 2, 2026: The City Council approved the design plans for the Centennial Restoration Project.
- Nov. 3, 2026: The council approved the amended Youth Center ground lease and the temporary children's library lease.
- Nov. 24, 2026: Under the lease resolution, the city gets early access to the Youth Center to prepare the space.
- Dec. 1, 2026: The estimated start of the 24-month lease.
- 2028: The centennial of the 1928 building, when the Pine Cone reported the restoration should be finished.
Until the move, the Park Branch at Mission Street and Sixth Avenue keeps its regular schedule, and the Local History Department is open by appointment. The city's library calendar lists a Climate Cafe at the Park Branch Local History Department on Nov. 12. For the next two years, the city's children's books will be checked out across the foyer desk at Torres and Fourth, in a building that has served as a youth center since 1949.
Harrison Memorial Library is the kind of place that shapes daily life in the village, and its restoration will change some routines over the next two years. If you're thinking about how Carmel's civic projects affect life on your block or a move you're planning, Dave Lucas is glad to talk it through calmly and in detail. Let's Connect.
