Located at 4591 Santa Monica Boulevard in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, it was built in 1916 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie.

One of three surviving Carnegie libraries in Los Angeles, it has been designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

"[4] Constructed of brick and concrete at a cost of $34,000, the library was built in a clover leaf or butterfly pattern "whereby the entire floor may be supervised from a centrally located delivery desk.

The building is designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style with a high basement, a low-pitched overhanging hip roof of clay tiles, and a tawny-colored tapestry brick facing.

"The front elevation is symmetrical, and is dominated by a large, formal entranceway featuring a double stairway with matching volutes leading up from the sidewalk to the portal where it forms a veranda with classical balustrade.

"[8] At the opening ceremony on December 4, 1916, City Librarian Everett Perry gave a speech welcoming the East Hollywood community to the new library.

[10] The confluence of funding at opposite ends of the century by two of the world's wealthiest men, one a steel baron, the other a silicon baron, led Patt Morrison to write: "What a collision of history that these two men, Carnegie and Gates, financial visionaries born more than a century apart, would intersect at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Madison Avenue.

In the week prior to the event, the LAPL performed the first major improvements to the library since 1996 with repainting, cleaning, repairs, landscaping and the installation of new bicycle racks.

At the public celebration, the program included family entertainment, a historic lecture on the Carnegie libraries, an information fair featuring the Los Angeles Public Library and various community organizations, a music performance by students from nearby Lockwood Avenue Elementary School, and a formal program featuring speeches by L.A. City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell and City Librarian John Szabo.