San Francisco/Main, San Francisco County
San Francisco area, San Francisco Bay Area region
The Old Main Library
Civic Center
San Francisco, CA 94102
opened 1917
Public library from 1917-1995
currently the Asian Art Museum
grant amount: $375,000
architectural style: Italian Renaissance
architect: George Kelham
A substantial library history preceded San Francisco's Carnegie libraries,
including the 1851 Mercantile Library for young working men of the merchant
class, 1853 Athenaeum organized by and for African Americans the 1854 YMCA
library and, in 1855, the Odd Fellows library and the Mechanics Institute. Several
of these groups provided buildings for their libraries and the history of
their support is colorful. Mechanics Institute president Andrew Hallidie was
instrumental in passage of the Rogers Act of 1878 which provided means for
California municipalities to build public libraries around the nucleus of the
old social membership libraries. Although itself excluded from provisions of
the Rogers Act, San Francisco's first public library dates from that year.
The first branch, Mission, dates from 1888 and there were six branches by
1906 when the main library, then in City Hall, and branches suffered severe
loss in the earthquake and fire. Earlier, then-Mayor James Phelan had requested
Carnegie funding and on June 6, 1901, received the promise of $750,000.
San Francisco's Old Main Library is the only true example of Italian
Renaissance Beaux Arts design among California Carnegies. Architect George
Kelham was selected following an architectural competition; the building was
said to be modeled on the Detroit Public Library. Italian and local marble was
used, and dominant features are the widely spaced paired Ionic columns above the
first floor entrance, the life sized statues in the intervals between the pairs.
Interior murals are also notable. The Old Main occupies the full width of its
block on Larkin Street between Fulton and McAllister streets, and is adjacent to
the new main library at Larkin and Grove streets. It remains a primary contributor
to the Civic Center plan, California's most clear cut example of City Beautiful
influence following the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, and is within the
Civic Center historic district. The Old Main is now being restored and
reconfigured to house the Asian Art Museum which will move from Golden Gate Park.
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