Rosa F. Keller Library and Community Center

The original building housing the Rosa F. Keller Library served as a private family residence for many years before being sold to the city in 1990.

[2] The branch was named in honour of civil rights advocate and New Orleans Public Library pioneer, Rosa Freeman Keller in October 1999.

A white heiress to a Coca-Cola bottling fortune, Keller could easily have chosen to live out her days quietly and comfortably in her Uptown home, with little social reflection.

In 2006, the neighborhood was deemed a drainage point in the city's reconstruction plan under the Bring New Orleans Back Commission that was led by the former mayor Ray Nagin.

[7] The result of a lengthy process of planning, fundraising, and review was the total rehabilitation of the historic home with the construction of an entirely new wing, designed by renowned New Orleans architecture firm Eskew+Dumez+Ripple.

The "design-build" process, one specially allowed only in parishes affected by Hurricane Katrina under Louisiana law, was used to rebuild this library and four others.

[11] The library also benefitted from a $2 million grant from the Carnegie Foundation, which the Broadmoor Improvement Association secured independently through private-public partnerships established during the recovery process.

[12] The use of natural sunlight is key within the library where access to books, social interaction, and connectivity to the internet are all equally important.

As much a social hub as it is an academic center, the library was rebuilt within the framework of a 21st-century model to allow technological access for community members that may not have it at home.

Though the uses are separate, both the library and the community center complement each other in design by including a semi-raised horizontal axis that reaches its lowest point at the entrance.