Ames Free Library

Ames Free Library
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District Contributing Property
Location:	Easton, Massachusetts
Coordinates:	42°4′2″N 71°6′18″W / 42.06722°N 71.105°W / 42.06722; -71.105Coordinates: 42°4′2″N 71°6′18″W / 42.06722°N 71.105°W / 42.06722; -71.105
Area:	H.H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton
Built:	1883
Architect:	Henry Hobson Richardson
Architectural style:	Richardsonian Romanesque
Governing body:	Town of Easton
NRHP Reference#:	87002598
Added to NRHP:	23 December 1987

Ames Free Library
Established	1883
Branches	2
Other information
Director	Donna P. Richman
Website	http://www.amesfreelibrary.org/

The Ames Free Library is a public library designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson. It is located at 53 Main Street, Easton, Massachusetts, immediately adjacent to another Richardson building, Oakes Ames Memorial Hall.

The library was built from 1877 to 1879, although it did not open until 1883. It is generally rectangular, with broad gable projecting from its north end and a rectangular tower rising where the gable meets the main mass. The gable's front facade contains a heavily arched entry on the first floor and a row of five arched windows separated by pairs of short columns above. The facade is light-brown Milford granite laid in random ashlar with reddish-brown Longmeadow brownstone trim. Its roof is red-orange tile. A children's wing (red brick) was added in 1931, eliminating the original lavatory and document room.

Within, the library's major rooms, stack wing, hall, and reading room are laid out longitudinally. The reading room's fireplace is primarily by Stanford White, and the stone and bronze medallions of Oliver Ames were designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

See also

• H.H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton
• North Easton Historic District

References

• Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, H.H. Richardson: Complete Architectural Works, MIT Press, 1985, page 183. ISBN 0-262-65015-0.
• Great Buildings
• ArchiPlanet
• Ames Free Library - Richardson bibliography

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  Ames Free Library

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  Front facade

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  Fireplace

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  Stacks

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  Ames Free Library, ca. 1879-1895