Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

Significance: The Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial (MLK) Library was constructed between 1968 and 1972 to serve as the Downtown Central Library for the District of Columbia. Replacing the Neoclassical style Carnegie Library (1903) on Mount Vernon Square, the International style MLK Library was designed and developed as part of a larger urban renewal plan for downtown Washington, D.C. during the mid-twentieth century. The only dedicated library building designed by the internationally renowned Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, MLK Library is one of the few great Modernist buildings to have ever been constructed in the District and is an important example of the International style in the nation's capital. Although it appears that Mies himself had little direct oversight of the building's design, which was managed by architects under his employ, including Gene Summers and Jack Bowman, the building's design exhibits many of the distinguishing features of Mies's singular architectural principles, most notably his emphasis on form and function over stylistic concerns and his use of structural expressionism. A recognizable example of his work, MLK Library is defined by the exterior expression of the building's structural elements and its use of modern building technology and materials, including precast concrete, steel framing system of girders and wide-flange columns, and curtain wall system allowing for the use of wide expanses of plate glass. In 2007, the property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the work of a master and (as emblematic of its importance) as a property that has achieved significance at less than fifty years of age.
Survey number: HABS DC-887
Building/structure dates: 1968-1972 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1986 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 2017-2020 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 07001102