Support Us Button Widget

Louisville’s Main Library ranked No. 8 most beautiful in US

The York Street branch finished just below libraries in New York, Boston, and the Library of Congress.

Loutoday_Main Library lobby

The Carnegie lobby features barrel-vaulted ceilings, marble columns, neo-Renaissance murals, and staircases with bronze and iron railings.

Photo by LOUtoday

When it comes to libraries, it turns out that LFPL is a real page turner.

Sport + entertainment publication Yardbarker released a ranked list featuring “20 of the most stunning libraries in the United States,” and the Louisville Free Public Library’s Main Branch made the cut.

Yardbarker ranked the York Street branch No. 8 on its list, below the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, but ahead of the Los Angeles Central Library and the Indianapolis Central Library, among others — eat your heart out, INDYtoday.

The publication called the Main Library, “gorgeous and palatial,” and noted that the interior features, “beautiful staircases with ornate railings and striking white marble columns and floors.”

The Main Branch first opened in 1908, and it expanded in the 1960s. Check out the full history of the branch and the future of an $11 million renovation project.

More from LOUtoday
Prepare for winter weather in Derby City with these seasonal temperature and precipitation outlooks.
With “A Complete Unknown” hitting theaters, we thought we’d round up Dylan’s connections to Derby City.
Kentucky College of Art & Design was awarded institutional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
From fiction to memoirs and everything in between.
These city gifts are way better than a Jelly of the Month Club membership.
We’ve had our fair share of the white stuff over the years.
The Columbia Building was an iconic Louisville feature for ~75 years.
The restaurant comes from the acclaimed restaurateurs behind a Michelin star spot in Chicago.
A new initiative aims to renovate downtown Louisville buildings into residential, hospitality, and mixed-uses spaces.
A park is breaking out of the site of a decommissioned city jail.