Powell Library

Architect: George W. Kelham
Year: 1929
Style: Romanesque Revival
City: Los Angeles, CA

Powell Library was built from 1926 to 1929 as one of the original four buildings on UCLA's campus, designed by George W. Kelham in the Romanesque Revival style. Its exterior, like that of Royce Hall facing it across the quad, is modeled on Milan's Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, and it remains one of the defining images of the university.

the building

Entrance mosaics. The library's entrance is decorated with mosaics, including one depicting two men holding a book inscribed with a line from Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta: 'Haec studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant' -- 'These studies nourish youth and delight old age.'

The Main Reading Room. The second-floor Main Reading Room's ceiling carries a set of Renaissance printers' marks, while the front facade is organized around two flanking wings and a taller central tower.

the style

Kelham modeled Powell Library's Romanesque Revival exterior directly on Milan's Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, pairing it with Royce Hall across the quad in the same idiom to set the tone for UCLA's earliest buildings.

the architect

George W. Kelham designed Powell Library, completed in 1929 as one of UCLA's original four campus buildings.

nearby

Royce Hall 430 ft · Romanesque Revival · 1929
UCLA MacDonald Medical Research Laboratory 0.3 mi · Postmodernism · 1991
Sheats Apartments 0.5 mi · Mid-Century Modern · 1949
Strathmore Apartments 0.7 mi · International Style
Regency Village Theatre 0.7 mi · Mission Revival · 1930
Janss Investment Company Building 0.7 mi · 1929

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