Riggs Memorial Library

Riggs Memorial Library

1914

From 1891 to 1970, the University's main library was the Riggs Memorial Library, located in the south tower of Healy Hall. The Library had been financed by E. Francis Riggs of the Washington banking firm as a memorial to his late father and to his brother who had attended Georgetown. Its construction had been supervised by architect Paul Pelz,whose firm also designed Healy Hall and the Library of Congress. Today, Riggs, one of the few remaining cast iron libraries in the country, is used as a reception space and continues to serve its original purpose of housing books.