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Library

San Francisco Main Library

100 Larkin St

Illustration of a landscaped hillside park with a curving path, trees, benches, and bay water under coastal fog.

Placeholder illustration representing San Francisco parkland. A location-specific photo is not yet available.

About this place

San Francisco Main Library is a 375,000-square-foot Civic Center landmark organized around a skylit five-story atrium, interior bridges and lightwells, a four-story stair, public art, and specialized research collections.

Size
375,000 square feet
Current building opened
1996

Highlights

  • Skylit central atriumNatural light reaches a five-story central space crossed by bridges and lightwells.
  • San Francisco History CenterThe sixth-floor research center documents the city’s geography, architecture, government, communities, and cultural history and serves as an archive for the City and County of San Francisco.

History

San Francisco’s first public library opened in 1879 and later moved into City Hall, where its collection was lost in the 1906 earthquake and fire. A Civic Center Main Library opened in 1917; the present building opened in 1996, and the earlier building became the Asian Art Museum.

Location

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What is listed here

Counts are shown only when verified on an official page.

Getting here by transit

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Muni bus

  • Larkin St & Grove StLess than 0.1 mile away
    • 19
  • Hyde St & Grove StLess than 0.1 mile away
    • 6
    • 19
    • 27
  • Larkin St & Mcallister StLess than 0.1 mile away
    • 19

Muni rail and streetcar

  • Civic Center BARTLess than 0.1 mile away
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
    • N
  • Market St & 8th StLess than 0.1 mile away
    • F
  • Market St & Hyde St0.1 miles away
    • F

Check current Muni service

Stops and straight-line distances come from scheduled 511 SF Bay data , retrieved . Suggested Muni connections only identify lines serving both areas; they are not live routing directions. Check the linked agency before traveling for arrivals, transfers, disruptions, and accessibility information.

Official services

Programs and reservations

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Official information and coverage

No destination-specific official page has been reviewed yet.

About this page’s coverage

Based on City of San Francisco open data

Details come from open data published by the City of San Francisco and may not include every public feature.

Not listed does not mean unavailable. No official page has been used to enrich the listed features yet.

Explore nearby

Distances are approximate straight-line measurements. Streets, hills, paths, and entrances may affect your route.

UN Plaza

Tenderloin · Civic Plaza or Square

0.1 miles away

Source details

This destination combines records published by the City of San Francisco into resident-facing information. Technical identifiers are included for verification.

Contributing San Francisco records

  • San Francisco Main Library — property ID 11474

Amenity evidence

    DataSF datasets