Mário de Andrade Library, Public library and United Nations depository in República District, São Paulo, Brazil
Mário de Andrade Library occupies a slab-like Art Deco building designed by French architect Jacques Pilon, built between 1936 and 1942. Its pale grey tower is covered on the front and right side by a dense grid of identical rectangular windows with recessed dark frames, rising to a flat parapet, with a lower windowed block joined at its base. The entrance is framed by dark green mottled stone around a large metal grid of glass doors and windows, twelve panes across the upper and lower rows and four taller central panes, with a floor of alternating light and dark tiled stripes.
The library began in 1925 from a municipal collection of 15,000 volumes and welcomed the public in 1926. Over the following decades it grew to become one of the country's largest repositories of documents and books.
The library was renamed in 1960 after writer Mário de Andrade, its first director at the city's Culture Department, created in 1935. In 1936 that department opened a children's library on the pedagogue Lenyra Fraccarolli's initiative, today the Monteiro Lobato Library, at the same address, with over 20,000 books and a toy room.
The library allows registered members to access and borrow materials at any hour through a self-service system. The building spans multiple floors, so planning which sections to visit helps you make the most of your time there.
The building was designed by French architect Jacques Pilon and represents a significant example of Art Deco architecture that shaped São Paulo in the 1930s. The structure was later protected as a heritage site for its role in documenting the city's modernist development.
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