Los Angeles Central Library exterior
Downtown / Downtown Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Central Library is an extraordinary work of art–even if you do not read one book.

by carollightwood
main lobby los angeles central library
This ceiling by Renee Petropoulos was added when the Central Library was rebuilt. Contrast it with the Rotunda Library which was originally painted in the 1930s and is shown below.

It is embarrassing to admit–even moreso because I am an author–but I had never been inside the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles which was built in 1926.  It was just one stop on a recent tour of Art Deco buildings downtown that I took with the Los Angeles Conservancy and I decided to come back and photograph it.

I suspect we skirted around the building because the Library offers guided tours on weekends, but the Conservancy guide told us a few details, among them: Bertram Goodhue designed the L.A. Central Library and the façade went through many design revisions–which you can see on the walls in an upper hallway.  Finally he and the powers that be agreed on a façade that is in the ‘Aztec’ style.

emblem over Library entrance
Above the entrance is an emblem of the 4 flags that have flown over California: Spain, Mexico, California and the U.S.

Goodhue was most famous for the ornate Balboa Park buildings for the 1915 Panama-California Exhibition and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.  He also designed the Cheltenham typefont.  Busy man!

Rebuilt after 1986 fire

In 1986 some maniac started a fire in the library and hundreds of thousands of book and other works were lost.  After the horror of this event, a campaign was mounted to raise funds to rebuild and expand the Central Library.  Today it contains a mix of old and new and is spectacular.

Here are a few of the many things I saw.  And there are many more.  (I will do a post of the Maguire Garden outside the Library and another post about old and new Bunker Hill at a later date.)

los angeles central library
The Los Angeles Central Library on 5th St.. combines 1920s and 1980s aesthetics. Plus millions of books, photographs, works of art, manuscripts, magazines, maps and more!
The 64 foot tall Lodwrick Cook Rotunda is up one floor from the main entrance. The murals were painted by Dean Cornwell and hung in 1933. The ceiling and other painting around the murals were done by Julian Garnsey.
The 64 foot high Lodwrick Cook Rotunda is up one floor from the main entrance. The murals were painted by Dean Cornwell and hung in 1933. The ceiling and other paintings around the murals were done by Julian Garnsey.
tom bradley wing of los angeles central library
The Tom Bradley wing was added after the 1986 arson fire. Three chandeliers by Therman Statom are definitely 1980s art work. The lamps on the right are by Anne Preston.  Tom Bradley was a long-serving mayor of Los Angeles.
khahil Gabran bust los angeles central library
A bust of Khahil Gibran, the famed Lebanese poet known for writing ‘The Prophet’, was recently added to the International Language Department. The walls in the reading room behind the bust were painted in 1926. The reading room now is filled with cubes and computers.
niemi fence at library courtyard.
In one courtyard there is a fence by Ries Niemi honoring various categories of knowledge including Literature, Biology,  Technology and Theology.  Neimi also did the artwork at the Del Mar Gold Line station in Pasadena.
map of old spanish ranchos in los angeles county
One library collection is of old maps, including this one of old Spanish ranchos in L.A. County. I discovered that I live in the San Pascual rancho. Examples from these collections, including Hollywood posters and old Los Angeles photographs, are shown in the Annenberg Gallery.
library stairs bunker hill los angeles
The Library Stairs across 5th Street from the entrance were built in the 1980s and lead up to Bunker Hill. The cascade down the middle of the stairs no longer flows with water.

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