Mount Pleasant Library

The Italian Renaissance design of the building harmonizes with the monumental architecture of the churches and embassies that line 16th Street.

Andrew Carnegie had funded the construction of the Central Library and, at its dedication in 1903, he offered to finance branch buildings as they were needed.

One of the most distinguishing features of the building today is the murals painted during the 1930s by Aurelius Battaglia under a Works Progress Administration program.

With the lion as the ringmaster and the hippos as ballerinas, the murals may have served as studies for Walt Disney's Fantasia for which Battaglia worked as an illustrator years later.

The project removed a three-level stack of cast-iron shelving and a sunroom and aimed to reach a minimum of LEED Silver for its sustainability and energy efficiency.