{"nrhp_refnum":"70000136","name":"Los Angeles Central Library","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"630 W. 5th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Los Angeles","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.05032981900007,"lon":-118.25510308199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-12-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public library building at 630 W. 5th Street in Los Angeles, California, built in 1925 to designs by Bertram G. Goodhue, set in gardens and owned by the city's library board.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a fine example of the late work of Bertram G. Goodhue, combining Mexican late baroque with the simple massing of the International Style, close to the Setback Style. It represents the 1920s integration of architecture and the decorative arts. Its gardens are described as vital open space in a downtown area now filling with high-rise buildings.","narrative":"Los Angeles Central Library, at 630 W. 5th Street, is a four-story reinforced concrete building finished in cement plaster, with two basements, a penthouse and a pyramidal pinnacle faced in colored Spanish tile. A three-story central rotunda forms the main public space, with tile and marble floors, a grand stairway, and murals. Built in 1925 to designs by Bertram G. Goodhue, it blends Mexican late baroque ornament with the simple massing of the International Style, and its direction came close to the Setback Style. Pylons carry sculpted heroic figures by Lee Lawrie, who also made interior sculpture. Rotunda murals are by Dean Cornwall, and the Children's Room murals are by Julian Garnsey and A. W. Parsons. The building sits in gardens that the nomination treats as valuable open space in an area of rising high-rises. The site once held the state's first Normal School and later passed to the city, which gave it to the library board.","period_of_significance":"1925","architect_builder":"Bertram G. Goodhue (architect); Carleton Monroe Winslow (associate architect)","architectural_style":"Mexican late baroque integrated with International Style massing, close to the Setback Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in excellent condition, unaltered, on its original site, and occupied; used for educational purposes.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.245573-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/70000136.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000136/9dd67d5ba3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000136/9dd67d5ba3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Carol M. Highsmith","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Statue_of_Civilization,%22_by_Lee_Lawrie,_at_the_Central_Library_in_downtown_Los_Angeles,_California_LCCN2013631250.tif\" rel=\"noopener\">Carol M. Highsmith</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Statue_of_Civilization,%22_by_Lee_Lawrie,_at_the_Central_Library_in_downtown_Los_Angeles,_California_LCCN2013631250.tif"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859279","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Central_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27676389"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/los-angeles-central-library-70000136/"}