The main entrance facade, accessed by a raised terrace, is curved and contains various inscriptions, in addition to tall, gilded columns by C. Paul Jennewein and a screen by Thomas Hudson Jones.

It is located on a roughly triangular site facing Eastern Parkway to the north, Grand Army Plaza to the northwest, and Flatbush Avenue to the southwest.

[2] The Central Library's main entrance faces the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch within Grand Army Plaza, the primary gateway to Prospect Park, to the west.

[3] The library building is part of a larger land lot along the eastern side of Flatbush Avenue between Grand Army Plaza and Empire Boulevard.

[36][37] At McClellan's request, Carrère and Hastings, the architects of the NYPL's main branch, determined in November 1905 that Grand Army Plaza was a suitable site for a central library.

[60] Work on the Brooklyn Central Library was supposed to begin that June,[42] but the Board of Estimate refused to grant an appropriation for the building the next month.

[62] Although contractor Thomas Dwyer had only just started erecting the basement and first floor by the beginning of 1919, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said about $724,000 had been spent on the building to date,[85] while city officials gave a different figure of $412,000.

[96] After Jimmy Walker succeeded Hylan as mayor at the beginning of 1926, his comptroller Charles W. Berry expressed support for completing the Central Library.

[118] Although the board had previously been reluctant to give the Central Library such a large appropriation, Hesterberg said the city could reduce the total construction cost by funding the entirety of the project at once.

[175] That month, BPL chief librarian Milton J. Ferguson requested another $300,000 to complete the second floor,[175][176] and the Board of Estimate agreed to provide $500,000 shortly afterward.

[197][198] The Central Library opened a "consumers' corner" with books about consumption of goods in early 1942,[199] and it began lending phonograph records to BPL cardholders the same year.

[207] New York City public works commissioner Frederick H. Zurmuhlen requested in April 1952 that the Board of Estimate approve $900,000 for the fitting-out of the Central Library's second floor.

[235] According to BPL director Larry Brandwein, the budget cuts had also forced him to eliminate several popular programs at the Central Library, such as a "term paper clinic" and a "homework hotline".

[248] The room's dropped ceiling was removed, allowing the restoration of the original windows; in addition, about 40 computers were installed in the Youth Wing,[245][249] A technology loft was built on the mezzanine.

[196] The New York Daily News estimated that the BPL needed to spend $67.7 million to renovate the Central Library and replace its fire alarms, air conditioning, roofs, windows, elevators, and bathrooms.

[267][268] The first phase of the renovation, costing $38 million, was completed in May 2021 and involved adding a book gallery, expanding various rooms, updating the bathrooms and elevators, and redecorating the interior.

[271][272] The second phase involved expanding the adult learning center, adding a room for teenagers, renovating book collection spaces, and overhauling the HVAC system.

[274] Much of Almirall's original design, consisting of a central pavilion on Grand Army Plaza flanked by wings on Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue, was never built.

[50][54] The current Brooklyn Central Library was designed by Alfred Morton Githens and Francis Keally in the Art Deco style, with decorations by Thomas Hudson Jones and C. Paul Jennewein.

[284] Occupying over 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2)[296] and employing 300 full-time staff members, the building serves as the administrative headquarters for the Brooklyn Public Library system.

[299] Following a renovation in 2021, the building's interior was redecorated in a style approximating the original design,[282] with light terrazzo floors, blond oak, and metal accents.

[295] In the basement (designated as the lower level), near the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway,[300] is the Dr. S. Stevan Dweck Cultural Center, a 189-seat auditorium that opened in 2007.

[300] As built, the ground story (designated as the first floor)[b] was intended to contain the building's primary spaces, including the general circulation room and a children's library.

[288][293] This foyer originally had wood wainscoting,[158] as well as green walls and a blue ceiling, intended to encourage patrons to enter the circulation room.

[261][312] The Info Commons spans 5,500 sq ft (510 m2) and was largely inspired by the design of Apple Stores, as well as that of the Bobst Library research center on the campus of New York University.

[320] The original collection also included thousands of records by the federal government of the United States,[174] as well as 20,000 letters, newspaper clippings, and other objects relating to World War I history.

Brooklyn's chief librarian Milton J. Ferguson said at the time: "The result of all the elaborate art of the building will be dark reading rooms, book shelves hard to reach, anything but what a modern library should be.

"[333] Christopher Gray wrote for The New York Times in 2004 that Almirall's design had been "a superrich version of Grand Central Terminal's Beaux-Arts sundae but with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry.

[335] Although architectural critic Lewis Mumford regarded the stacks as mediocre, he thought the main lobby area was "unexpectedly exhilarating" and "the most vital point of the whole design".

"[196] In the 1987 book New York 1930, Robert A. M. Stern and his co-authors wrote that the building's interior spaces were "proof positive that Modernism and monumentality were not mutually exclusive".