San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library

United States historic place


San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


35°16′49″N 120°39′50″W / 35.28028°N 120.66389°W / 35.28028; -120.66389
Area	less than one acre
Built	1905 (1905)
Architect	Weeks, William H.
Architectural style	Romanesque
MPS	California Carnegie Libraries MPS
NRHP reference No.	95000357^[1]
Added to NRHP	March 30, 1995

The San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library is a Carnegie library located at 696 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo, California. The library building was funded by the Carnegie foundation in 1903 and built in 1905; it housed the city's subscription library program, which had operated since 1894. William H. Weeks, who designed 21 Carnegie libraries in California, designed the San Luis Obispo library in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The library's design includes a tall hipped roof with two gabled wings, decorations including gargoyles in the gable ends, and an entrance portico with multiple round arches. The building is mainly faced in red brick with yellow sandstone trim, but the basement is faced in dark gray granite.

The library operated until 1955 and became a county historical museum the following year.^[2]

The library building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1995.^[1]

History Center of San Luis Obispo County

The library is now home to the History Center of San Luis Obispo County, formerly known as the San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum. The museum features changing exhibits on local history and culture and a research room.

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ Gallagher, Astrid J. (October 12, 1994). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library". National Park Service. Retrieved April 23, 2013.