Zimmerman Library

Albuquerque, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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Zimmerman Library, the historic main library of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, is a landmark nine-story Pueblo Revival structure designed by New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem and completed in 1938 with funding from the Public Works Administration and Works Progress Administration. Constructed from reinforced concrete, brick, and structural clay tile, the original building comprises a great hall, five reading rooms, and a central stack tower capable of holding 225,000 volumes. Its interior showcases exceptional craftsmanship by WPA-employed local artisans, featuring hand-carved corbels and vigas, wrought-iron banisters and gates, punched-tin light fixtures, and four murals by Kenneth Miller Adams. Subsequent additions completed in 1966 and 1973 expanded the facility to approximately 224,000 square feet, making it the centerpiece of the UNM Libraries system—the largest in New Mexico with nearly 4 million print volumes. The building was named for former university president James Fulton Zimmerman in 1961 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.