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Athenaeum, Beacon Street

The Boston Athenaeum always looks grim. Its classically proportioned facade of gray sandstone faces north, receiving little light. You'd never guess you were looking at one of Boston's astonishing institutions. The grim exterior does achieve one goal: It dramatizes the experience of going inside. There the building explodes into a stunning series of rooms with dramatic vaults and colonnades, many of them brilliantly sunlit as they look out over the Granary Burial Ground at the Athenaeum's rear.

We're looking down Beacon Street toward Somerset Street. In both photos, the Athenaeum is in the middle of the right side. It's a unique institution in several ways, beginning with its quirky address, No. 10 Beacon. The Athenaeum is a private library for the use of members and qualified scholars. It was founded in 1807 and is still owned by shareholders, called Proprietors. Shares are often handed down by inheritance (there are 1,049, another quirky number). The Athenaeum is the source of much of cultural Boston; both the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts began as spinoffs from its collections. Those collections are still large: more than 600,000 books and a fine array of 19th-century American art.

The present building, designed by Edward Clark Cabot in imitation of a villa by the Renaissance architect Palladio, opened in 1849. In 1914, it was altered and enlarged. Today, it is again closed for renovation. Architects Schwartz-Silver are replacing all systems - plumbing, heating, electrical, elevators, sprinklers, windows. The Athenaeum will add new spaces for lecture programs and exhibitions. And it will expand into several floors of Congregation House, the building next door at the right of the photo.

Seen from outside, though, the Athenaeum remains the motionless stone in a stream of change. The biggest change is at the rear of our photos, where Beacon Street bends. In the old photo, the vista is closed by a modest granite building that housed church-supported charities. The site today is occupied by a huge, but undistinguished, office tower.