4645 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, California. County/parish: Los Angeles.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places May 19, 1987. NRIS 87001015.
Part of Los Angeles Branch Library System TR (NRIS 64000066).
1 contributing building.
Memorial Branch is a branch library of the Los Angeles Public Library. It was built in 1930 based on a Gothic Revival design by architect John C. Austin, also noted as the lead architect of the Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Masonic Temple. The library includes a large heraldic work of stained glass created by the artists at Judson Studios. Located directly across from Los Angeles High School, the library was named to honor former LAHS students who had lost their lives in the First World War. Their names, including that of aviator Greayer Clover were worked into a large stained glass window.
In 1987, the Memorial Branch and several other branch libraries in Los Angeles were added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of a thematic group submission. The application noted that the branch libraries had been constructed in a variety of period revival styles to house the initial branch library system of the City of Los Angeles. In the movie, Bedtime Stories, starring Adam Sandler, this library serves as the children's elementary school.
The Library underwent a major restoration in the mid-1990s, reopening in 1996. The library relocated to office space near John Burroughs Middle School in the interim.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857552