The Central Library is the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, located at Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway on Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York City. It contains over a million cataloged books, magazines, and multimedia materials. Each year, over one million people visit the library.The 352,000 square foot building contains the S. Stevan Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture, a 189-seat auditorium that opened in 2007 and hosts lectures, readings, musical performances, and other events for people of all ages. The library's plaza, renovated during the construction of the Dweck Center, hosts concerts throughout the summer and has become a favorite outdoor destination for free wireless internet access.The Central Library's local history division, The Brooklyn Collection, holds over a million individual items including photographs, maps, manuscripts, Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia and other ephemeral items.Groundbreaking for a Brooklyn central library on Prospect Park Plaza (now Grand Army Plaza) occurred in 1912. The original architect Raymond Almirall had designed a domed, four-story Beaux-Arts building, similar in style to the adjacent Brooklyn Museum. Because of World War I and the Great Depression, Almirall's building was never completed except for the Flatbush Avenue wing, which was finished in 1929.In the 1930s, architects Githens and Keally were commissioned to redesign the building in the Art Deco style, eliminating the expensive ornamentation and the fourth floor. Almirall's building on Flatbush Avenue was largely demolished except for the frame, but some of the original facade along the library's parking lot is still visible.
