Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny
About this property
The Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny is situated in the Allegheny Center neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was commissioned in 1886, the first Carnegie library to be commissioned in the United States. Donated to the public by entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, it was built from 1886 to 1890 on a design by John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz. The library and musical conservatory was built of red and grey granite from Maine. The contractor was Vinalhaven, Maine's Bodwell Granite Company, which had furnished granite for major public works including the State, War and Navy Department building in Washington, DC., now called the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. It did not open until 1890 thus making it the second Carnegie library to open, after the Carnegie Free Library of Braddock, built for steel-workers in Braddock, 9 miles up the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh, opened in 1889. The building also features the first Carnegie Music Hall in the United States. The Music Hall at the Braddock Library would not open until an 1893 expansion of that structure. The running costs were met from local taxes – unlike the Carnegie Library in Braddock, which received an endowment from Carnegie. After a 2006 lightning strike, the library reopened in a new building a few blocks north on Federal Street in 2009. Following the move, the New Hazlett Theater was the primary tenant. In April 2019, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh opened Museum Lab, a makerspace for youth aged 10+. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Location
Categories
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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Questions about this property
When was Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny listed on the National Register?
Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1974.
What type of historic resource is Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny?
Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny?
The period of significance for Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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