The Sunset Carnegie Library was designed by architect Gustave Albert Lansburgh in the Classical Revival style. Lansburgh designed three other Carnegie branch libraries in San Francisco: Chinatown, Mission and Presidio.

Lansburgh drew two plans for the Sunset branch, one rectangular with interior stairs much like Mission and Noe Valley, the other octagonal. The octagonal was judged "quite impossible" and the other plan approved with slight revision.

In this version of the Classical Revival, the central entrance is recessed within a loggia formed by three tall round arches supported by two segmented Corinthian columns and two pilasters. Names of authors, many Western, are inscribed under the sills of recessed arched windows.

The Sunset branch was the fifth of seven Carnegie branch libraries built in San Francisco. All seven buildings still function as libraries (see map).

Carnegie Free Libraries in San Francisco
Chinatown, Golden Gate Valley, Mission, Noe Valley, Presidio, Richmond, Sunset

Carnegie Free Libraries in Oakland
23rd Avenue, Alden, Golden Gate, Melrose

Some Other Carnegie Free Libraries in California
Alameda, Bayliss, Biggs, Colusa, Corning, Eureka, Ferndale, Gilroy, Grass Valley, Gridley, Hanford, Healdsburg, Hollister, Lincoln. Livermore, Lompoc, Nevada City, Orland, Oroville, Oxnard, Paso Robles, Patterson, Petaluma, Riverbank, Roseville, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo Santa Cruz, Sonoma, South San Francisco, St. Helena, Turlock, Willits, Willows, Woodland, Yolo, Yreka

Some Other Carnegie Free Libraries in the West
Beaver, Utah; Coos Bay, Oregon; Medford, Oregon; Panguitch, Utah

For more information about these and other Carnegie Free Libraries, visit the website Carnegie Libraries of California.