Historic Features

The original Carnegie Library featured character-defining design elements, which were readily visible on its original exterior facades and in the Upper Floor, as well as in the original site. The site was originally a relatively open, park like setting, with curved sidewalk, lawn and a few specimen trees, and the building set like a free-standing object in the landscape. Many historic features of the building remain, despite impacts from the 1968 Addition. They include:

  • Simple building massing, with a rectangular block form below a single sheltering hip roof, and a formal front facade, composed with strict symmetry and projecting biaxial stairs leading up to and emphasizing the central main entry
  • Smooth texture painted, stucco-clad exterior concrete walls with rich, but relatively flat wall decoration, contrasting with the texture and pattern of the clay tile clad roof and embellished overhang, originally with large scuppers and exposed downspouts
  • Tall operable wood windows at the Upper Floor, with divided lite units at the top and bottom, aligned over smaller wood windows at the Basement; and wood panel exterior and interior doors
  • Dark stained interior woodwork and trim over smooth, painted plaster walls
  • A clearly organized Upper Floor library, originally with a main Reading Room, side wings for special functions, such as the Periodical Room, central circulation desk, and a small Librarian Office
  • A Meeting Room, storage and service spaces in the Basement, which feature small operable windows

The present day Basement retains a few historic elements -- such as the wood panel doors. With exception of the Meeting Room, however, its spaces are secondary and supportive of the original functions. Most of the interior finishes at the Basement have been replaced or are utilitarian, and can be replaced without impacting the building's architectural significance.

 

The following existing floor plan diagrams suggest the clear organization and hierarchical relationship of rooms provided by their relative sizes, and spatial qualities: