🏢 San Francisco Public Library — San Francisco, California

Chinatown/Him Mark Lai Branch

A 1921 Carnegie library in Italian Renaissance style on Powell Street, this branch is named for Him Mark Lai, the historian long called the 'Dean of Chinese American history.'

📖 About Chinatown/Him Mark Lai Branch

Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh and completed in 1921, this Powell Street building was one of four Carnegie branches Lansburgh created for San Francisco and today is recognized as San Francisco Landmark No. 235. It opened as the North Beach Branch and was renamed the Chinatown Branch in 1958 to better reflect the community it served; in 1972 the branch launched its Chinese-language and Chinese American Interest collections in response to neighborhood needs. On November 4, 2010, the Library Commission voted to add the name of Him Mark Lai — the internationally renowned scholar known as the 'Dean of Chinese American history,' who died in 2009 — making it the Chinatown/Him Mark Lai Branch. A major seismic retrofit and renovation from 1991 to 1996 roughly doubled the building's size, adding community and story rooms before it reopened on June 15, 1996. The branch keeps an extensive file of pamphlets, newspapers, and magazine articles documenting Chinatown's history, and offers materials in Chinese and Vietnamese alongside English.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• 1921 Carnegie library in Italian Renaissance style by G. Albert Lansburgh — San Francisco Landmark No. 235
• Opened as the North Beach Branch, renamed Chinatown Branch in 1958
• Renamed for historian Him Mark Lai on November 4, 2010
• Holds an extensive archive of pamphlets and clippings on Chinatown's history, plus Chinese- and Vietnamese-language collections

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