Indianapolis Central Library, Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Central Library, adjacent to the World War Memorial Plaza, was designed by Philadelphia-based architect Paul Philippe Cret. It opened to the public on October 8, 1917.

The original Central Library building was constructed in Greek Doric style architecture, faced with Indiana limestone on a Vermont marble base. The building contains a number of distinguished architectural design elements. The main reading room inside the main entrance has two flights of Maryland marble stairs and an ornamental ceiling designed by C. C. Zantzinger. The ceiling includes oil-on-canvas medallions and printers' colophons accompanied by a series of bas-relief plaster plaques depicting early-Indiana history. Reading rooms at the top of each staircase have wood paneling above oak bookcases and large leaded glass windows. Central Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1975.

Central Library has undergone a number of expansions and renovations over the years. In 2001, Indianapolis-based architectural firm Woollen, Molzan and Partners was commissioned to renovate the historic building, expand with a six-story addition, and incorporate an underground parking garage. The renovated Central Library and its new atrium addition opened on December 9, 2007.

The Central Library houses the Indianapolis Special Collections Room. The collection contains a variety of archival adult and children's materials, both fiction and nonfiction books by local authors, photographs, scrapbooks, typescripts, manuscripts, autographed editions, letters, newspapers, magazines, and realia. The collection features Kurt Vonnegut, May Wright Sewall, the Woollen family, James Whitcomb Riley, and Booth Tarkington.