To resolve that problem, Czesak applied for a $90,000 grant from the state Department of Community Affairs to put in historically correct doors made of Spanish cedar at the library. The project would ultimately cost $115,000 and although there is no exact way to analyze price-per-knob costs throughout the city, the doors -- installed this week -- are probably the most expensive, and nicest, doors in Paterson.

In fact, Czesak says she hopes residents – buoyed by the architectural enhancement -- will start beating them down once they open later this month.

"I'm really looking at these doors as a symbol and I'm almost embarrassed that I'm this excited about getting new doors," she said, "because they're just doors -- but I'm looking at them as a beginning at expanding library services."

Proportionally, the rich wooden doors, with thick beveled-glass insets, take up a fraction of the building's expansive gray stone facade, but the change is quite dramatic, instant and captivating. Since 1967, those entering the library, often yanked open a set of jerky aluminum doors that befitted the entrance to an underground bunker instead of "a community living room" of a literary environment.

The new doors, paid for mostly by the DCA grant, are historically correct and comply with strict preservation requirements under the Paterson Historic Preservation Commission that dictate how the landmark building can be altered. The architect, Dennis Kowal of Somerville, based his work on 1905 designs from Henry Bacon, the library's original architect, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Kowal said the biggest challenge in designing the new entrance was fitting the frame, which stands 14 1/2 feet high and spans 7 feet across. A second set inside the foyer blocks an even larger space -- 14 1/2 feet high and 11 feet wide.

Beyond that, Kowal, who has completed preservation work for the New York City and Hoboken public libraries, said board members can sometimes go for a cheaper solution in putting in new doors.

"When a community builds a public building, they represent the values of the community at that time," Kowal said. "Obviously, the city put a lot of value in the library to have hired such a prominent designer ... It's a nice statement in his time to say we still value the same thing."

Reach Alexander MacInnes at 973-569-7166 or macinnes@northjersey.com.