Regional Modernism :: The New Orleans Archives

The New Orleans Public Library, the crowning achievement of the Civic Center as planned by Mayor 'Chep' Morrison, opened to the public on December 15, 1958.

Curtis and Davis designed a special anodized aluminum sun screen to filter light in an essentially open plan glass box. The building's harmony is best perceived by its interior spaces, especially from the mezzanine which looks over the central atrium and Japanese courtyard garden.

Goldstein, Parham and Labouisse, and Favrot, Reed, Mathes and Bergman, associate architects. R. P. Farnsworth & Co., contractor. HONORS: Design Award for Public Buildings, Progressive Architecture, 1956. Award of Merit, National Library Awards Program, AIA and ALA, 1963.

[F. Stock; photo: Frank Lotz, Miller, AIA Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Tulane University Libraries]