Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Los Angeles Central Library

Downtown Los Angeles

Introduction

The Los Angeles Public Library is one of the city's most recognizable civic landmarks. Located at 630 West Fifth Street, the Central Library opened on July 6, 1926, at a time when Los Angeles was rapidly transforming into a major American city.

The building was designed by New York architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, whose work for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego had made his name in California. Drawing from ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean forms, it stands as an early example of modern civic architecture that uses symbolism and scale without directly imitating the past. Goodhue died on April 24, 1924, before the project was finished. His associate Carleton Monroe Winslow carried the work forward, bringing the building to completion in 1926.

The images that follow begin with the finished landmark, then step back into its construction and early years, before moving forward again through a century of change. Together, they trace the full life of one of Los Angeles's most important public buildings.

The Completed Landmark

This opening view shows the Central Library as it stands today. Despite the rise of modern towers around it, the building remains a powerful visual anchor in the heart of downtown.

The structure seen today combines the original 1926 Goodhue Building with the Tom Bradley Wing, a 330,000-square-foot addition completed in 1993. Together they form the Richard J. Riordan Central Library, the third largest public library in the United States by book and periodical holdings.

The pyramid-topped tower is the building's defining feature. Covered in colorful mosaic tile, it symbolizes the pursuit of knowledge through a program called the Light of Learning, developed by University of Nebraska philosophy professor Hartley Burr Alexander. Sculptural figures in limestone by artist Lee Lawrie, along with inscriptions across the facade, reflect themes of history, science, literature, and art. The building was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 46 in 1967 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 1970.

Building the Central Library

Before it became a landmark, the Central Library was an active construction site. These views capture the building as it neared completion, still wrapped in scaffolding and surrounded by a growing downtown.

The site had earlier served as the Los Angeles State Normal School, the predecessor institution that eventually became UCLA. After the school relocated in 1914, the property was transferred to the city for civic use. A 1907 planning report had already envisioned a public library at this location.

Voters approved a $2.5 million bond measure in June 1921 with a 71 percent majority, and construction began in early 1924 under general contractor Weymouth Crowell Company. In May 1925, workers laying the cornerstone discovered an earlier time capsule from the Normal School era; library staff added their own materials before resealing it. That capsule was opened in January 2026 as part of the building's centennial celebration.

This view shows the library nearly finished, with scaffolding covering most of the exterior. Workers used these frameworks to install stonework, complete decorative elements, and finish the upper portions of the tower. The Savoy Auto Park visible in the foreground charged twenty-five cents for all-day parking. Automobiles throughout the frame reflect the growing dominance of car travel in Los Angeles during the 1920s, when the city was shifting rapidly away from its earlier streetcar network.

From this angle, the scaffolding emphasizes the vertical rise of the building and its central tower. The upper levels and decorative crown were among the final elements to be completed. Hope Street ends at the library's south facade in a cul-de-sac, giving the building a commanding presence from this approach. Goodhue designed each of the four entrances with a distinct character; the Hope Street side was conceived as a temple-like portico rising from ascending terraces.

By 1926, much of the scaffolding had been removed, revealing the finished facade and its decorative detail. The library opened to the public on July 6, 1926, with a formal dedication ceremony on July 15. In the weeks before opening, 300,000 books, 4,000 catalog drawers, and tons of records were transferred from the library's previous home at the Metropolitan Building on Fifth Street. The new facility offered 190,000 square feet of space and thirteen public reading rooms — a major expansion in both scale and capacity.

A New Civic Landmark

With construction complete, the Central Library took its place as one of the defining buildings in downtown Los Angeles. These early exterior views show the building settled into its surroundings and open to the city.

Goodhue added the Flower Street entrance in 1923 after the city acquired adjacent properties along that block, expanding the building's western footprint. Each of the four entrances was given a distinct architectural character. On this facade, sculptor Lee Lawrie placed two limestone figures named Phosphor and Hesper, representing the morning and evening stars, flanking the entry portal.

The Library Board originally expected a Spanish Colonial Revival design similar to Goodhue's work for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. By the early 1920s, however, he had shifted toward cleaner, more modern forms. The Central Library, along with the Nebraska State Capitol, is now considered among the most innovative work of his career.

Inside the Central Library

The Central Library was designed not only for function but to move people. Its interior spaces combine practical design with an ambitious program of art, symbolism, and craftsmanship that Goodhue believed every great public building deserved.

Originally known as the Reference Room, this was the largest reading room in the building when the library opened. Long tables, individual lamps, and high ceilings created an environment designed for sustained study and research. Goodhue believed that public buildings should combine function with artistic expression, and the painted ceiling beams and patterned floors visible here reflect that conviction. The decorative stencilwork on the ceilings throughout the main level was executed by Los Angeles artist Julian Garnsey, who also designed the dome of the Rotunda.

The Rotunda served as the heart of the library, where visitors checked out books, consulted the card catalog, and moved between reading rooms. The murals on the upper walls were painted by Dean Cornwell, an illustrator who wanted to establish himself as a fine arts muralist. He won the commission with a design that incorporated the full height of the upper walls, including the lunettes that other competing artists had left blank.

Cornwell spent nearly six years on the project. The four major panels, each forty feet wide, were installed in 1933 and depict four eras of California history: Cabrillo's Discovery, the Building of the Missions, the Founding of the Pueblo of Los Angeles, and the Americanization of California. The area sustained smoke damage during the arson fire of April 29, 1986, but was carefully restored during the renovation completed in 1993.

The Zodiac Chandelier was designed by Goodhue Associates and modeled by Lee Lawrie. Cast in bronze, it measures nine feet in diameter and weighs one ton. The globe at its center is encircled by the signs of the zodiac, and the fixture is lit by 48 bulbs — one for each of the 48 states in the Union when the building opened in 1926. The chandelier hangs beneath the dome's sunburst ceiling, connecting the interior decorative program to the pyramid and torch visible on the exterior tower above. The sunburst on the dome mirrors the sunburst on the pyramid, reinforcing the building's central theme of light and learning at every scale.

A Landmark Under Threat and Saved

Over the decades, the Central Library has remained a defining feature of downtown Los Angeles. It survived a prolonged threat of demolition in the 1970s, two arson fires in 1986, and an earthquake in 1987, emerging from each challenge through the efforts of preservationists, civic leaders, and ordinary Angelenos who recognized what was at stake.

By 1949, the library had been a working civic institution for more than twenty years and downtown Los Angeles had grown considerably around it. The Richfield Tower visible behind the building was a striking Art Deco skyscraper completed in 1929, clad in black and gold tile. It would itself be demolished in 1969 to make way for the Atlantic Richfield Plaza complex, a reminder that even celebrated landmarks can disappear when preservation efforts fall short.

The Central Library faced its own demolition threat in the 1970s, when city officials proposed replacing it rather than funding a costly renovation. That prospect galvanized preservation advocates across Los Angeles and played a direct role in the founding of the Los Angeles Conservancy in 1978. Saving the Central Library became one of the organization's first major victories and shaped how the city approached its historic built environment for decades to come.

On April 29, 1986, an arsonist set the library ablaze. More than 250 firefighters from 49 companies responded, and the battle lasted over seven hours. Some 400,000 volumes were destroyed and 700,000 more were damaged by water and smoke. A second fire struck on September 3 of that year, destroying 25,000 additional books from the music collection. The twin disasters finally forced action on a renovation plan that had been stalled for nearly two decades. A public fundraising campaign co-chaired by Mayor Tom Bradley raised $10 million toward replacing the lost collection. The restored and expanded library, with the new Tom Bradley Wing added, reopened on October 3, 1993.

It is hard to imagine downtown Los Angeles without the Central Library. The pyramid tower remains the building's defining feature nearly a century after it was built. Atop the pyramid, a hand holds a torch as a beacon. At the base of the finial, a coiled snake represents wisdom. The original ceramic finial has been removed for preservation; a replica stands in its place, and the original is now displayed on the library's main floor.

Surrounding the tower, Lee Lawrie arranged allegorical figures of eight great thinkers and writers, presented in pairs and each holding an identifying attribute. Hartley Burr Alexander called them the Seers of Light: David the Psalmist and Saint John of the Apocalyptic Vision, Homer and Milton, Shakespeare and Goethe, and Plato and Dante. Together they embody the Light of Learning theme that runs through every element of the building, from the pyramid above to the murals and chandelier within.

The pyramid's influence did not stop at the library's walls. When architects John Parkinson, Albert Martin, and John Austin designed Los Angeles City Hall just two years later, they looked directly to this tower. City Hall's own stepped pyramid cap, completed in 1928 and rising 454 feet above downtown, drew on the Library's design as one of its acknowledged sources. The two pyramids still face each other across the same downtown skyline today, separated by less than half a mile — the civic library and the seat of city government, both reaching upward with the same ancient form, built within two years of each other at the moment Los Angeles was becoming a world city.

Then and Now

The Central Library has remained remarkably consistent in form, even as the city around it has transformed completely. These comparisons show both what has changed and what endures.

In 1951, the Central Library was among the most prominent structures visible from this approach. By 2024, it sits in the shadow of towers that include the U.S. Bank Tower, originally known as the Library Tower. That name was not accidental. When the library faced its deepest crisis in the 1980s, a preservation plan allowed it to sell unused air rights to private developers. The proceeds helped fund the building's restoration, while those rights made possible what became the tallest building on the West Coast.

The building's form, materials, and symbolic design remain essentially unchanged from Goodhue's original plans. The pyramid still catches the afternoon sun. The torch still rises at its apex. The inscriptions carved into the limestone facades carry the words Hartley Burr Alexander wrote nearly a century ago. Nearly a century after it opened, the Central Library remains exactly what it was intended to be: a civic monument to knowledge at the center of the city.

The 1971 photograph was taken during a period when the library's future was actively uncertain. Proposals to demolish and replace the building had been circulating since the late 1960s. These were driven by concerns about overcrowding, fire safety, and the cost of bringing the aging structure up to modern standards. The renovation that eventually saved the building — designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates and completed in 1993 — added a 330,000-square-foot wing while carefully restoring the original Goodhue Building. The Central Library reopened on October 3, 1993, drawing an estimated 80,000 visitors on its first day back.

In 2026, the Central Library marks its centennial under the theme "Central 100." The time capsule sealed in the cornerstone during construction was opened on January 29, 2026, revealing documents, photographs, and records capturing Los Angeles at two distinct moments — the 1880s and the early 1920s. The city that placed those materials in the wall could not have imagined what the building above them would endure and become.

Other Sections of Interest

Early City Views (1800s)

Historical Bldgs (1800s)

Early Hollywood (1850 - 1920)

Early San Fernando Mission

Early Los Angeles Plaza

Water in Early Los Angeles

Early So Calif Amusement Parks

Baseball in Early Los Angeles

Aviation in Early Los Angeles

Early San Pedro and Wilmington

Mystery History: Q & A

Early City Views (1900 - 1925)

Historical Bldgs (1900 - 1925)

Early Views of Hollywood (1920 +)

Early Views of the San Fernando Valley

California Historical Landmarks in LA

Electricity in Early Los Angeles

Historical Timeline of Los Angeles

Los Angeles River - The Unpredictable

Early Views of Mt. Lowe Railway

Early Views of Santa Catalina Island

Early Views of the Miracle Mile

Early City Views (1925 +)

Historical Bldgs (1925 +)

Early Views of Hollywood Bowl

Early Views of Pasadena

Early Views of Santa Monica

Early Views of Glendale

Early Views of UCLA / Westwood

Early Views of USC

Early Views of Historic Main Street

Early Los Angeles Streetlights

'Miracle Mile' (1920s & 1930s)

Water and Power in Early LA

Newest Additions

New Search Index