Vince Wunderly ponders the large selection of books at the Wilmot library as Abbey Dastole, 10, background, searches for a book and Katie Jordan puts some away. It seems the library won't be torn down.

David Sanders / Arizona Daily Star

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A group of architects wanted to save the Murphy-Wilmot Branch Library because it's the signature building of an important Tucson modernist.

Library users wanted to save it, too, but for simpler reasons: Location, location, location.

It appears the wishes of preservationists and residents have been heeded.

"I don't want them to move it," said Carrie Hamilton, an East Side resident who grew up using the Wilmot library and takes her two children there often. "So many people in this neighborhood go there. You can walk to it.

"If they tried to move it, they'd have an upheaval on their hands," she added.

The Wilmot library, which a year ago appeared likely to be torn down and rebuilt or sold and moved, will stay where it is and continue to look mostly as it does today.

The decision now is whether to build a 6,000-square-foot addition on the north side or leave the exterior as it is and remodel the interior to provide more space for patrons.

There will be a public meeting Monday to present the alternatives, then the library advisory board will make a recommendation next month.

The bond advisory committee also will have to sign off on the proposal. The renovation will be funded with $7 million in 2004 bond money.

That amount would not have been enough to build a new library, but the renovation might be done for $2 million to $5 million.

The library still might have to close temporarily and operate out of a storefront, though it might be possible to keep part of the library open during construction.

The Wilmot library, 530 N. Wilmot Road, was designed by modernist architect Nicholas Sakellar in 1965.

The horizontal lines of the roof, the window walls that fill the building with natural light and the open floor plan all are characteristic of modernist architecture, while the use of white and off-white gives the building a sculptural quality, said Chris Evans, an architect and president of the Modern Architecture Preservation Project, which lobbied to save it.

"The building was one of the signature buildings of Sakellar," Evans said. "He was one of a handful of modernists who came to Tucson after World War II and really changed the face of architecture here."

A group of local architects from the American Institute of Architects approached the county about working out a plan that would save the key elements of the building while meeting the library's needs.

They organized meetings with architects, city and county officials, neighbors and the library's staff, and the result is the alternatives now on the table.

Lloyd Hudson, vice president of the El G.H.E.K.O. Neighborhood Association, doesn't use the library much himself, but he made a point of going to the meetings.

"I don't want it to move because of its position in the community," he said. "We don't have enough facilities like that around here."

"It's more important to stay in that location than to build a bigger library," said Pima County Public Library Director Nancy Ledeboer, summing up the sentiment from several months of community forums. "We learned a lot about the building and why it's so special."

Those proposals also are a better match for the money the library has available to it.

Ledeboer said staff members at the Wilmot library have more space now than they need, and a renovation could make some of that space available to the public.

A renovation also would allow the library to provide more technology.

Though a year ago County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry had proposed tearing down the existing library and building a two- or three-story replacement, he said Wednesday that he would support the new plans.

"If we can reallocate the space, save money and keep the building, I'm all for it," he said.

Councilwoman Carol West, who represents the East Side, welcomed the decision to keep the library.

"It means a lot to the surrounding community," she said. "It's just a warm and friendly place. People just love that library."