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When you take our free docent-led art and architecture tours of the Los Angeles Central Library, we always point out Teen’Scape, one of the nation’s first libraries within a library designed by and exclusively for teens. Architect Robert Coffee created the unique space, which opened in 1998.
When you take our free docent-led art and architecture tours of the Los Angeles Central Library, we always point out Teen’Scape, one of the nation’s first libraries within a library designed by and exclusively for teens.
These annual precursors-to-telephone directories display a person’s home address, but also often a spouse name, occupation, and work address. And since they were largely published every year, they can be powerful tools used to find where your ancestors lived and worked between the decennial U.S.
If you love the historic Central Library’s art and architecture, why not share that passion with others?
Our free art and architecture tours of L.A.'s Central Library begin by taking a look at the exterior of the historic 1926 Goodhue Building.
Our free art and architecture tour of L.A.'s Central Library begins in the 1926 Goodhue Building, famous for its sculpture, murals, painted ceilings, and wonderful architecture. The building has another great feature, something which seems ordinary to modern eyes, but which wasn't ordinary at all in 1926.
Recently, we found a folder tucked away at the back of a file cabinet in the Social Science, Philosophy & Religion Department.
The elegant Literate Fence, on the Fifth Street side of the library, was designed by Washington state industrial metal artist Ries Niemi (b.1955). The Deco design, completed in 1993, echoes the design of the original library building.
Our free docent-led art and architecture tour of the Los Angeles Central Library always includes a stop in the International Languages Department, through which visitors can find the library's original 1926 Children's Department, with its decorated ceiling and Ivanhoe-themed murals.
As you learn on our daily docent-led tours, The Richard J Riordan Central Library has almost 90 years of fascinating history. But some of most intriguing chapters in the building’s story occurred before the library even opened its doors for the first time in 1926.