page_title: North York Central Library
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: North York Central Library / History
caption_attribution_description: English: North York Central Library
context_page_description: North York Central Library is a Toronto Public Library branch located in North York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the two libraries in Toronto considered to be "Research and Reference Libraries", the other being the Toronto Reference Library downtown. In contrast to the Toronto Reference Library, however, most of the items in the North York Central Library can be signed out.
  The library is located inside the North York Centre twin-tower office/hotel/retail complex. 5150 Yonge Street is on the west side of Yonge Street and forms the north side of Mel Lastman Square. The library is adjacent North York Civic Centre, which until 1998 was North York's City Hall. It is served by the North York Centre subway station, which has a direct underground connection to the mall containing the library.
  Since 2016, the library has been undergoing a major renovation.
context_section_description: Now part of the larger Toronto Public Library system, the first stand-alone facility for the North York Public Library was constructed on Yonge Street at Park Home Avenue in 1959. The Gladys Allison Building (named after the first chair of the Library Board) acted as a central library for all of North York. It served as the library until its closure on October 5, 1985, as a new branch was being built to replace it. A support branch, Central-on-Sheppard, opened to serve the community during the transition period between the closure and the opening of the new central library.
  The new North York Central Library, along with the North York City Centre twin-tower office/hotel/retail complex where it is housed, opened on May 13, 1987. It was designed by Moriyama and Teshima Architects and is characterised by its seven-storey atrium.
  On November 24, 2016, the Toronto Public Library announced that the branch would be closed until early 2017 for renovations. The last day of service for the branch was December 4. In February 2017, it was announced that the library would remain closed for the remainder of the year to complete more renovation work. The first two floors of the main library re-opened to the public in summer 2018, with the rest of the floors being reopened in phases.  While the branch is closed, the library has opened a temporary pop-up location in the concourse level of the adjacent mall.
caption: Inside view of the North York Central Library, post 2016-18 renovation.
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