Billings Library is H.H. Richardson’s last library and the University’s most historically significant building. It has endured many changes, including in 1961, when it was dramatically modified into a student center, and again in 1984 when a large cafeteria was added at the rear. It then sat empty for over a decade. The project, almost 15 years in the making, returned the building to its original library function, this time as the University’s Special Collections Library.

New archival collections spaces were created below the restored Reading Room. The building was made accessible, climate-controlled, and secure within the modest budget, bringing the library staff and their valuable collection under the same roof for the first time in the University’s history.