New Helen Matthes Library

Effingham, Illinois

Henneman Engineering provided Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Fire Protection design engineering services for the renovation of the existing Fifth Third Bank building located at 200 North Third Street in Effingham, Illinois. 

This building was renovated into the new Helen Matthes Public Library, which consists of approximately 28,000 square feet of floor space across two above-ground stories and a basement. The first floor of the new library offers stacks of fiction, large print, and periodicals, as well as small quiet study spaces and café space for patrons and office space for library employees. 

The second floor accommodates nonfiction stacks, as well as spaces for children and young adult programs; and the basement provides office and conference space for library employees, mechanical space, storage, and a 2,500-square-foot tenant space for lease by third parties. 

Mechanical systems consist of two air-handling units served by a packaged outdoor chiller on the north end of the building and two boilers in the mechanical room, as well as existing perimeter finned tube radiators served by the same boilers. The renovations also included the installation of a new elevator on the east end of the building.