🏢 Chicago Public Library — Chicago, Illinois

West Loop Branch

Housed inside the old Harpo Studios complex, the West Loop Branch trades sleek newness for exposed bow-truss ceilings and skylights, giving Fulton Market its first-ever public library in a loft-like industrial shell.

📖 About West Loop Branch

The West Loop Branch opened on January 17, 2019, as the first public library ever built for Chicago's fast-growing West Loop and Fulton Market district. Designed by the global firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the roughly 16,500-square-foot branch is an adaptive reuse of an existing warehouse-style building that was donated to the City of Chicago by developer Sterling Bay. Rather than concealing the structure's factory past, SOM's renovation stripped back the interior to reveal the original bow-truss wood ceilings and skylights, filling the two-story space with daylight and echoing the neighborhood's warehouse-to-loft character. Inside, the branch pairs a general collection and large-print materials with a dedicated West Loop YOUmedia space and a teens-only YOUmedia Recording Studio, plus bookable study rooms and a meeting room. The result is a design-forward neighborhood library whose look is drawn directly from the industrial buildings that define the surrounding Fulton Market streetscape.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• Built as an adaptive reuse of a warehouse-style building donated by developer Sterling Bay, opened January 17, 2019
• Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) with original bow-truss ceilings and skylights left exposed
• Roughly 16,500 square feet — the first public library serving the West Loop / Fulton Market area
• Teens-only YOUmedia Recording Studio plus a dedicated West Loop YOUmedia space, study rooms and a meeting room

📱 Free with a Chicago Public Library Card

Any Illinois resident can get a CPL card free and unlock:

📍 More Chicago Public Libraries

← All Chicago libraries  ·  All Illinois →

❓ Frequently Asked Questions