What to expect as Salt Lake City's Main Library rooftop space reopens

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Main Library's rooftop quickly became one of its more beloved features, offering patrons a panoramic view of the downtown skyline to the northwest and the Wasatch Mountains to the southeast.

That stunning vista will return for the first time in nearly two years on Saturday, as most of the library's rooftop terrace reopens. The library is planning a big celebration featuring rooftop tours, live music, children's storytimes, arts and crafts, and other activities for all ages. Honey-themed food in honor of the beehives stored at the top of the building will also be provided.

The library plans to hold a contest to name the hive's queen and distribute 250 custom mural-themed library cards during the event.

Quinn McQueen, a spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City Public Library, said the free event, from 1 to 5 p.m., will close one chapter of rooftop construction. It coincides with the Living Traditions Festival happening at Library Square on Saturday.

"It's going to be a huge community celebration," she told KSL.com. "It'll just be an event for the entire community to come enjoy and celebrate ... with some spectacular views."

Saturday's celebration caps the first half of a project that began in August 2023, seeking to solve a longstanding issue with the rooftop. The building initially opened in 2003, but within a few years, staff and visitors began noticing ceiling leaks every time it rained, forcing employees to take steps to ensure the books and other items didn't get damaged.

The library system gathered about $10 million from its savings account to plan and construct a completely new rooftop terrace that would not cause headaches to people inside the building.

At the same time, leaders collected more than 1,600 "points of feedback" from residents to figure out what types of features people wanted on the terrace, McQueen said. They found that people wanted a space where they could spend hours reading or hanging out with friends, away from the hustle and bustle of the growing city below.

GSBS Architects was brought on to help design the new features, but they also wanted to make sure it wasn't completely different from what Moshe Safdie and VCBO Architecture planned two decades ago. They ultimately designed a space that can handle a little over 400 people, more than double its previous capacity.

"We really renovated this space from top to bottom," she said. "We reimagined this space to also be more friendly for our patrons to spend a lot of time."

People can start booking the space for weddings, galas and other events beginning in July. There's even space within the facility for caterers to stage food at these events.

Yet its most important feature is one visitors won't see. Crews applied what's known as highly durable hot rubberized asphalt waterproofing beneath all the new terrace features. McQueen refers to it as the "Cadillac of asphalt waterproofing," which should solve the roof leaks for at least the next few decades.

Patrons may notice on Saturday, however, that the north end of the rooftop and the rooftop staircase built into the northern side will not be open.

That's part of a second project phase to weatherproof the entire exterior space, library officials say. Construction is funded to begin sometime in the next fiscal year, which begins in July, but there is no timeline yet for when that will take place or when it will reopen.

However, this weekend still marks the return of a treasured view in the city.

"People are certainly excited that the roof is going to be back open," McQueen said. "I think it will be a really big win for the community."

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