North Hollywood Branch

About this property

North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Library, formerly Sidney Lanier Branch Library, also referred to as North Hollywood Branch and North Hollywood Library, is a regional branch library in the Los Angeles Public Library system, located at 5211 N. Tujunga Avenue in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Opened in 1929, the building was declared a Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument in 1986 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Library began as two bookcases in the corner of a City of Lankershim post office. As it grew, it moved to a designated section in a feed store at the corner of Lankershim Boulevard and Margate Street, and then to its own building on Margate Street. In 1923, Lankershim was annexed by the City of Los Angeles, and four years later, the neighborhood changed its name to North Hollywood. The library was also renamed the Sidney Lanier Branch, in keeping with the then tradition of naming Los Angeles branch libraries after literary figures. In 1927, the library moved to a larger location on Bakman Street, and it moved to its current location on July 29, 1929. This final building was designed by Weston & Weston, the architectural duo also responsible for American Legion Post 43. The budget for the building was approximately $25,000 ($468,750 in 2025). The library's continued growth and designation as a regional branch for the San Fernando Valley necessitated an expansion. In 1956, architect John James Landon designed an addition that almost tripled its original size. The addition, which cost $183,000 ($2.17 million in 2025), was dedicated on June 22, 1956. In 1980, community members requested that the library be renamed to honor Amelia Earhart, who had lived in the area and frequently used the library. The name change was enacted the following year. A statue of Earhart also stands in the park adjacent to the library. The library was one of many structures damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, with a majority of this building's repairs funded by MCA/Universal through the "Adopt-a-Branch" program. The library officially reopened on April 17, 1995, the last damaged branch to reopen. By 2002, the library was once again in need of restoration and expansion. A new plaza, parking lot, and 1,400 square feet (130 m2) of interior space were added to the building, increasing the facility to 15,150 square feet (1,407 m2). M2A Architects and ARK Construction performed the restoration. North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Library is a one-story Spanish Colonial Revival Mission-styled stucco and red brick building that features a Spanish tile double roof. The upper roof is shallow hip in design and hangs over a clerestory that contains seven multi-pane recessed windows flanked by two large and colorful terra cotta coat of arms, all centered over the entrance to the building.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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