Beautiful Southern Libraries Worth Visiting

Libraries are a place of imagination, learning, and inspiration. Some of them also happen to be incredibly beautiful.

There is magic in a library. So many of us spent our formative years excitedly combing the shelves for our favorite writer's latest book and placing the items we’d take home in an ever-growing stack. For me, there was no greater thrill than when I was allowed my own library card: a whole world of choice opening up for me to view.

Even in a world that’s full of online reading and audiobooks, libraries are still invaluable. They offer a chance to physically connect with books and the peace that comes from quiet spaces. Though are plenty of beautiful libraries throughout the South, we've compiled a list of some of the most exquisite.

George Vanderbilt’s Library at the Biltmore Estate

Asheville, North Carolina

George Vanderbilt was a voracious reader and a collector of books. Each volume that came into his possession as an adult was sent to be rebound in Moroccan leather with gilt lettering and decorations, made to visually match and grace the shelves in the library at The Biltmore Estate.

With more than 23,000 volumes, the library is a must-see for any visitor to the grounds. The books are housed in floor-to-ceiling wood shelves. The two-story room is ready for reading with a large, ornate wood-burning fireplace and many decadent options for seating. An impressive private library like this is any reader’s dream.

Biltmore.com, 1 Lodge St, Asheville, NC 28803

Armstrong Browning Library & Museum at Baylor University

Waco, Texas

The Armstrong Browning Library & Museum is dedicated to the study of the lives and works of Victorian poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It houses the world’s largest collection of Browning material and other fine, rare 19th-century books, manuscripts, and works of art.

At a majestic ceremony in 1950, donors and friends of this library placed personal photographs, publications, and tributes to Robert Browning in the cornerstones of the buildings. The library was finished in 1951 and opened to great fanfare.

The building is in Italian Renaissance-style, housing 62 incredible stained glass windows, marble columns, and inlaid ceilings. Visitors walk up granite steps to enter the terrazzo-floored foyer decorated with brass bells and pomegranate decorations that continue through the building.

Baylor.edu, 710 Speight Ave, Waco, TX 76706

Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch

Louisville, Kentucky

Though the Louisville public library system has 18 branches, there’s none more beautiful than their iconic sprawling main location. With a decidedly French flair to its Beaux-Arts Classicism architecture, the building highlights the city’s connection to Louis XVI. Construction finished in 1908, landing the library on the National Register of Historic Places.

A grant from Andrew Carnegie's foundation provided construction funding for the impressive building, which is visited by over 400,000 people per year.

LFPL.org, 301 York St, Louisville, KY 40203

Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

As the largest library in the world, the Library of Congress is without compare. Over 50 American sculptors, artists, and painters created the murals, mosaics, and artworks required to create one of the country’s most beautiful buildings. Guests arrive to a Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building, with an expansive 75 feet between the marble floor to the stain-glassed ceilings. It’s an impressive sight.

Not only is the library a breathtakingly beautiful building, it holds incredibly rare manuscripts, music, artifacts, maps, books, newspapers and medical journals. Visitors can see the first book printed in what is now the United States, “The Bay Psalm Book,” published in 1960. There are also papers from 23 United States presidents, including George Washington.

Oddly, the library houses the largest collection of U.S. telephone books and directories for anyone researching the bygone days of landlines. The collections are fascinating, even if you aren’t a researcher.

LOC.gov, 101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20540

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