Lucius Beebe Memorial Library at 345 Main Street, Wakefield, Mass.

Item

Title: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library at 345 Main Street, Wakefield, Mass.
Description: Photos show views of the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library located at 345 Main Street on the west side of the street at the corner of Avon Street. Originally established in 1856, the library had several homes before settling at its present location. The current structure was built in several stages. The section on Main Street was built in 1922, and designed by Ralph Adams Cram of the Boston firm Cram & Ferguson. Cram was a medievalist best known for his many Gothic churches, and the classical revival style of this building was a stylistic departure from his usual work. The building has a large skylit entrance hall flanked by two reading rooms, each up a short flight of marble stairs. The north reading room is graced by fourteen medallions depicting famous literary figures. Both reading rooms include working marble fireplaces, built-in wooden bookshelves, and elegant Adam style plaster detailing on the walls and ceilings. The central lobby has a black and white marble floor and cast iron stair railings with urn motifs that echo the stone urns on the building's facade. The beehive, a symbol of the Beebe family, is used throughout the building as a decorative motif, and was chosen in 1998 as the Library's logo. In 1967 a modern addition was added to the rear of the building, greatly expanding the space. In 1997 the entire building was renovated within the existing footprint. A small cantilevered addition was added from the second story of the rear of the building, and the exterior entrance on Avon Street was completely rebuilt, with new windows and a brick facade matching the 1922 building.; The library is part of the Common Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places; Photos taken at 8:30 a. m. on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Contributor: Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library
Coverage: Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield; 345 Main Street (Wakefield, Mass.)
Creator: Klapes, Jeffrey M., 1964-
Date: 07-16-2008
Format: image/jpeg
Publisher: [Wakefield, Mass. : The author]
Subject: Libraries; Lucius Beebe Memorial Library (Wakefield, Mass.)
Type: still image; Photographs
Original Format: 14 photographs : digital, JPEG file, color

Item sets: Current Photographs of Wakefield

Media: digitalphoto2008beebe-library1.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library2.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library3.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library4.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library5.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library6.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library7.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library8.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library9.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library10.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library11.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library12.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library13.jpg; digitalphoto2008beebe-library14.jpg