Located on the edge of Beyers Naude Square this stately building with its marble columns, silver door handles and Venetian teak floors reopened in 2012 following extensive renovations with funding from the City of Johannesburg and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. With architecture in the Italianate style the building is one of the most prominent structures built in the city in the 1930s. It was also the first South African public library to admit all races - from 1974. The library has 1.5 million items, among them an impressive music collection, with around 700 000 books, free wifi (not always on) and lots of great spaces to explore.