{"nrhp_refnum":"00000413","name":"Library-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","other_names":["Main Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1408 W. Gregory Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Urbana","county":"Champaign County","state":"IL","lat":40.10466508300004,"lon":-88.22901662699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Main Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Georgian Revival brick and limestone building at 1408 West Gregory Drive in Urbana, Illinois. It was designed in 1924 by Charles A. Platt and built in three phases between 1924 and 1929.","why_significant":"The building was the second on campus designed by Charles A. Platt, consulting architect for the University's campus plan. It answered decades of overcrowding in the earlier library buildings and was meant to hold a research collection of a million volumes. The nomination treats it as locally significant, and later additions largely follow the original design.","narrative":"The Main Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a Georgian Revival building of red brick with limestone trim and a green slate hipped roof. Charles A. Platt designed it in 1924, and it was built in three phases between 1924 and 1929. Its east facade has thirteen bays, a rusticated arched entrance and carved stone panels with inscriptions about learning. Inside, the main spaces include a limestone lobby, marble stairs, murals by Barry Faulkner and a long Reading Room with a beamed ceiling. A flat-roofed bookstack wing extends west and was lengthened by additions through 1984. The library replaced earlier buildings that had become badly overcrowded as enrollment grew. University leaders wanted a collection of a million volumes and a building large enough to hold it. Platt, the consulting architect for the campus plan, was commissioned in 1923, and the first unit was occupied in 1926. The building is significant locally as a product of Platt's campus design.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles A. Platt (architect)","architectural_style":"Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as a library; later bookstack additions were made between 1939 and 1984.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.796036-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/35/8907/28890735/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/00000413.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000413/323deb511e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000413/323deb511e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0 us","author":"Dori","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MainLibrary_Urbana_Illinois_4582.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dori</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0 us</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MainLibrary_Urbana_Illinois_4582.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28890735","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Library_(University_of_Illinois_Urbana-Champaign)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18153985"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/champaign-county/library-university-of-illinois-at-urbana-champaign-00000413/"}