Built 1901-03 Area 1 ha Phone +1 202-249-3000 Architect Albert Randolph Ross | NRHP Reference # 69000290 Architectural style Beaux-Arts architecture Added to NRHP 3 December 1969 | |
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Location Mount Vernon Sq., 8th and K Streets, NW.
Washington, D.C. Address 801 K St NW, Washington, DC 20001, USA Similar The Historical Society of, Walter E Washington Conventi, DC Armory, International Spy Museum, Robert F Kennedy Memorial | ||
The Carnegie Library of Washington D.C., also known as Central Public Library, is situated in Mount Vernon Square, Washington, D.C.. Donated to the public by entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, it was dedicated on January 7, 1903. It was designed by the New York firm of Ackerman & Ross in the style of Beaux-Arts architecture.
It was the first Carnegie library in Washington, D.C., and the first public library. It was also D.C.'s first desegregated public building.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as "Central Public Library", in 1969.
It was used as the central public library for Washington, D.C. for almost 70 years before it became overcrowded. The central library was then moved to Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. After being shut down for ten years it was renovated as part of University of the District of Columbia. Currently it is used by the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. and Events DC.
In 2014, Events DC twice sought to move the International Spy Museum into the library, but failed to win historic preservation approval.
In September 2016, Apple Inc. proposed renovating the library into D.C.'s second Apple Store location. In December 2016, Events DC announced an agreement with the company for conversion of the space into a new store designed by Foster and Partners.