Henry E. Legler Regional Branch of the Chicago Public Library
- Architect
- Alfred Samuel Alschuler
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Chicago, IL
The Henry E. Legler Regional Branch of the Chicago Public Library opened October 11, 1920, at 115 S. Pulaski Road in West Garfield Park -- the first regional library in Chicago. Alfred S. Alschuler designed the Beaux-Arts building, completed the year before in 1919.
the building
WPA mural. Inside, a Works Progress Administration mural depicts Jacques Marquette and Native American traders during Marquette's passage through the Chicago area.
A changing community. The library first served an affluent Jewish community; as West Garfield Park's demographics shifted, it came to serve a predominantly African-American population through years of declining circulation.
the style
Alschuler designed the Legler branch in the Beaux-Arts style, the formal, symmetrical idiom favored for American public libraries of the era.
More on Beaux-Artssignificance
The library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 6, 1986. It lost its regional designation in 1977 amid falling circulation, was rededicated after a 1993 renovation, and regained regional status in 2019 following further renovation.
nearby
- (Former) Anshe Sholom Synagogue Building
- King-Nash House
- Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex
- Central Park Theater
- Waller Apartments
- Lindemann & Hoverson Co. Showrm & Warehse