Early Modernism

Interior of a library looking down from a mezzanine. The library has rows of bookshelves that end in a semicircular stone column. There are windows to the left, separated by half columns recalling those of the bookshelves.

RIBA Library, London

Named after Sir Banister Fletcher, the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects is among the world's largest dedicated to architecture.
Exterior of a modern brick industrial complex.

London Metropolitan Archives

A former print shop in Clerkenwell is now used as the archives of the Corporation of London.
Exterior of a 1930s post office transformed into a library. It is a four-story structure with a hipped roof and a square clock tower. The words "pestalozzi bibliothek" are written in red script on the main facade. There is a street with tram tracks in front and people milling about.

Pestalozzi-Bibliothek Oerlikon

At the heart of a bustling transit hub, the early modern Oerlikon post office now serves as a location for the Zürich public library.