National Register of Historic Places

Eldredge Public Library

Chatham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Listed
April 27, 1992
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
92000430

About this property

Eldredge Public Library is the public library of Chatham, Massachusetts. It is located at 564 Main Street, in a National Register-listed Romanesque Revival building donated by Chatham native Marcellus Eldredge. It was designed by Boston architect A. M. Marble. The library is set at the southeast corner of Main Street and Library Lane in Chatham's central business district. It is a 1-1/2 story brick and stone structure, with a slate roof and a granite foundation. Its Romanesque Revival features include parapeted end walls, eyebrow dormers, and brownstone trim, including beltcourses, window trim, and corner quoining. A 1968 addition, extending the building to the rear, was rebuilt in the early 1990s to more sympathetically resemble the original building. The interior has floors of marble and oak, and lavish oak woodwork. The Chatham library has its origins in a small library in South Chatham in 1875, and a library and reading room in Chatham village in 1887. Marcellus Eldredge, a Chatham native who made a fortune as a brewer in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, offered the town a new library building, which was constructed in 1896 at a cost of $30,000. The designer was the otherwise little-known Boston architect A. M. Marble. Eldredge also established a $20,000 endowment to maintain the library. This building was enlarged in 1968 to a design by Alger and Gunn of Hyannis, and again in 1991-92 by A. Anthony Tappe of Tappé Architects in Boston. The library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance in 1992. It is the only major Romanesque Revival work in the town, and one of very few in Barnstable County. National Register of Historic Places listings in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

Location

564 Main St.
Chatham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
41.68129, -69.95846

Categories

EDUCATIONARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Port Royal House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Brick Block
Industrial
0.2 mi
Chatham Windmill
Industrial
0.3 mi
Chatham Railroad Depot
Industrial
0.4 mi
Old Village Historic District
Colonial
0.6 mi

Questions about this property

When was Eldredge Public Library listed on the National Register?

Eldredge Public Library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 27, 1992.

What type of historic resource is Eldredge Public Library?

Eldredge Public Library is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Eldredge Public Library?

The period of significance for Eldredge Public Library is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Eldredge Public Library?

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