Rising three stories with a smaller "penthouse" for mechanicals, the Lansing Central Public Library, with its terraced, rounded entrance/lobby area off the Capitol/Kalamazoo intersection, is set in landscaped grounds that include a small sunken garden along the building's west side. The ground floor exterior, sheltered by a broadly projecting horizontal canopy, contains large areas of windows alternating with piers and areas of wall finished in white concrete tile with surfaces embedded with small marble stones. The upper facade displays the building's most distinctive features, unusual square-plan exposed quartz aggregate precast concrete panels (Mo-Sai). These panels display a repeating pattern of colophons (publishers' emblems or trademarks) for eight well-known US book publishers. Each panel is molded to give the impression of a central seal held to an outer frame by curved vertical and horizontal arms. The library originally featured a drive-up service window at the rear of the building where patrons could pick up books and place requests.
The Lansing Public Library began with two previous libraries, established in 1871 by the Lansing Library and Literary Association and at the city's high school during the 1871-72 school year. In 1882 the two libraries were merged at the high school. The library moved to the new city hall in 1897 and then to a home of its own in a building constructed for it in 1903-1905 under a grant from Andrew Carnegie. That building still stands on Shiawassee Street as part of the Lansing Community College campus.
By the late 1950s the library building was too small for the library's needs, and the long flight of stairs up to the front door made the building inaccessible to many residents. The present building at 401 South Capitol Avenue was built in 1962-64 and dedicated on October 18, 1964. In 1993 the Lansing Public Library was renamed the Clarence H. Rosa Public Library in honor of a former president of the Lansing Board of Education who was instrumental in securing support for the construction of the present library (Capital Area District Library [CADL] 1993.)
(Text excerpted from the Lansing Downtown Historic District National Register of Historic Places Registration form.)
