The most beautiful libraries in Los Angeles

The city’s main library is worth a look even if you’ve no interest in borrowing books. The exterior is an Egyptian and Mediterranean beauty, topped with a dramatic, tiled pyramid tower and decorated with bas-reliefs. The most stunning features, though, reside in the second floor rotunda, with its deco-meets-arabesque dome, California history mural and globe chandelier.

630 W 5th St, Downtown L.A. Mon–Thu 10am–8pm; Fri, Sat 9:30am–5:30pm; Sun 1–5pm

This founding building on the UCLA campus resembles a church, and that’s not by accident; the brick building was supposedly modeled after Milan’s Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio. Step inside the Romanesque revival structure and you’ll find a sanctuary-like rotunda at its center.

Election Walk, Westwood. Hours vary.

USC boasts over a dozen libraries on campus, and this intimate courtyard building may be its most beautiful one. Inside you’ll find dark wood, stained glass windows, stone arches and a cathedral ceiling. Just note that USC now has security checkpoints at every campus entrance, so you’ll need to show a photo ID to get in.

3709 Trousdale Pkwy, University Park. Hours vary.

Like many of the other brick buildings on campus, USC’s main library borrows elements from Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Its main study hall is a quintessential university library with high, ornate ceilings and dangling chandeliers.

3550 Trousdale Pkwy, University Park. Hours vary.

This L.A. County library is almost startlingly nice, with a ground-floor cafe, views of the Hollywood Hills, an LGBTQ+ collection and a parking garage that bears both Retna and Shepard Fairey murals.

625 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood. Mon–Thu 11am–7pm; Fri, Sat 10am–6pm; Sun 1–5pm

Once the castle-like home of Glendale’s Brand family, this quiet canyon library boasts a stunning Spanish, Moorish and Indian-inspired structure at its center.

1601 W Mountain St, Glendale. Tue–Thu 11am–8pm; Fri, Sat 10am–5pm; closed Sun, Mon

The Mid-Wilshire branch of the L.A. Public Library owes its English Tudor-like exterior to the work of two local luminaries: Griffith Observatory architect John C. Austin and Highland Park art glass experts Judson Studios.

4625 W Olympic Blvd, Mid-Wilshire. Mon, Wed 10am–8pm; Tue, Thu noon–8pm; Fri, Sat 9:30am–5:30pm; closed Sun

Santa Monica has a handful of notable libraries, from the bright main branch to the midcentury stone facade of the Montana Avenue branch. But this 2014 expansion to the city’s library system is a much more stylish, contemporary take than the others, with its geometric canopy and patio-like orientation.

2201 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica. Tue–Thu noon–8pm; Fri, Sat 10am–5pm; closed Sun, Mon

This relatively new, glassy library looks lovely as it glows at night, but by far its most alluring asset is its ocean views from the top floor.

1320 Highland Ave, Manhattan Beach. Mon–Wed 10am–8pm, Thu–Sat 10am–6pm,; Sun 1–5pm.

This one comes with a few caveats: You need to pay to get in (as it’s part of a larger museum and garden), you can’t actually check books out of the Huntington and you can’t use its reading rooms unless you’re a qualified scholar. But the main library’s hall is bright and stately on the outside and dark and handsome on the inside, with everything from a manuscript of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” to the Gutenberg Bible.

1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino. Mon, Tue–Sun 10am–5pm; closed Tue. $25–$29.